The Future Rewritten
by God of Fisticuffs
Summary: Through a miraculous twist of events Gohan of the future timeline survived his bout with the androids. How could the past change with him traversing through time as well? More importantly, what events could unfold when they return to the future?
1. The Heroes

**Sequence I**

 **The Past Retold**

 **Chapter One: The Heroes**

That night, it had been a wretched one. Trunks had awoken to the feeling of rain soaking his skin, gasping as a single word burned his mind.

"Gohan…" He breathed out, feeling his mentor's energy level diminishing by the second. The lavender haired boy immediately stumbled to his feet and shot into the sky, Peppertown in his sights. But as unfortunate as it was, it seemed the young hybrid hadn't flown fast enough. The hero of the future's broken body lay face down in the pouring rain, energy so low he could be only lifeless. Trunk's stiffly approached him, shakily falling to his knees.

"Oh god no…what did they do to you Gohan?" He questioned the frail body, receiving no reply. Tears began to stream down his face, unrelenting. "You were my best friend; you were everything to me…. everything, this just isn't fair!" He murmured, clutching the body closely.

"Gohan…Gohan? GOHAAAANNN." An unearthly cry ripped from his throat. In his fit of rage, he dropped his mentor's body and stood up, clutching his fists with such anger his palms began to bleed. As the scream ravaged his throat, Trunk's mind began to cloud. His rage consuming him, he opened his clenched eyes but all he saw was pure gold filtering his vision. Losing consciousness, the fourteen-year-old never even noticed the faint spark of life right in front of him.

* * *

That was all he remembered of those three years ago on that awful night. He'd woken days later in the Capsule Corp's underground bunker, utterly relieved to see Gohan lying in a bed only a couple of yards away. Through some incomprehensible means his mentor had survived the bout with the mechanical terrors.

But that day was then, and this day is now. The Saiyan-Hybrids had grown much stronger in the past time, disappointingly though not strong enough to defeat the androids. But it seemed that they might not have to destroy them after all.

Twenty something years ago the general population might've thought the act of time travel impossible, and until now, it was. But through the works of Bulma's genius, Gohan's meticulous nature, and Trunk's quickly prospering mind they had made it possible. The slender golden machine, harboring the power to manipulate time and space, was set to launch tomorrow.

"Heya mom, how goes it?" Trunks inquired as he quietly walked into his mother's lab. Bolts, screws and the likes scattered about, grease and soot spread around. His mother simply huffed as she continued to tinker about with something, her back turned to him.

"Same old Trunks, terroristic androids purging the earth with no hint at survival," The teenager frowned, his mother usually wasn't this pessimistic. The time machine project must be keeping her on edge. Trunks sighed and tried another question.

"So what're you messing with mom?" As soon as the words left his mouth, however; his mother set her project down and turned around revealing her soot stained face.

"I want you to call Gohan down for me sweety, it's important," Trunks raised an eyebrow but complied anyways. He gave a slight flare of his energy and the orange donned fighter appeared instantly.

"Hey, what's going on? I felt Trunks' energy rise," Gohan asked in a concerned tone. Bulma simply gave a wave of her hand.

"I just wanted Trunks to get your attention. I've got something very important to show you," Bulma explained scrabbling around behind her, finally pulling a slender gray item. "I've been on this as a side project, along with the time machine. It shouldn't break easily since I've alloyed it with that stuff from Frieza's ship and that ship Dad made for Goku's trip to Namek," Trunks narrowed his eyes a bit _I was wondering what she wanted that stuff for._ He thought, Bulma continuing her explanations, "I also tried to use that concept Gero had with the Androids, infinite energy and all. I couldn't figure that out but you should still be able to channel your own energy through it." Bulma finished.

Gohan only stared in amazement, mouth agape, "Bulma this is amazing! I never thought I could use both arms again. Only one question though, how are we going to get it on?" He asked. That's when Bulma's eyes started to shift around, she fidgeted.

"Well because of your unique Saiyan physiology we can't do normal surgery, since the tools would break against your skin. So, just take this." Bulma explained, handing him a metal bar.

* * *

Gohan held out on yelling, as Trunks energy pierced his skin helping to fuse the metal with his flesh. Bulma had explained that this was the only way since it was the only thing strong and precise enough to break the skin. Still, he had to let down his defenses for it to be as effective and it wasn't any more fun.

The structural integrity of the metal bar finally snapped just as Trunks energy beam left the surface of his skin, metal bits flying around. Gohan spat the remaining metal out of his mouth and stood up flexing the new appendage.

"Gohan are you sure you don't want to rest for a bit?" Bulma asked. Of course it was expectedly shot down with a shake of Gohan's head _Saiyans…_ she mentally murmured. Seconds later the radio at the table crackled to life.

"Please help! Someone? Anyone? Orange City is under attack!" Came a distressed and horrified voice, replaced moments later by a scream of agony. Bulma turned towards the Saiyan martial artists and attempted to say something to stop them. But she looked up to see the fury and determination in Gohan's eyes and before she could say anything they were gone in a flash of gold.

"Saiyans…" She vocalized this time.

* * *

A young woman knelt and sobbed over her father's body. She had told the man that he didn't stand a chance against the androids, but the warning had fell on deaf ears. She didn't even notice her own wounds seeping blood from her torn black leggings and ragged pink shirt.

"Haha, nice shot on the afro man, sis! Straight through the head!" Came the cruel voice of 17. That was what separated these monsters from humanity. They didn't even have names, only _numbers_. It's as if they were forged from hell for the sole purpose of terrorizing this planet. "So what do you wanna do about girly down there?" He asked, a malicious glint evident in his eyes.

"Ugh, just finish her off already. Her whimpering down there is getting annoying." This time 18's smooth voice resounded. 17 grinned as a glowing orb formed in his palm and he reared his arm back. But amazingly her death never came. Instead two more glowing balls of energy came crashing into the ground, kicking up an immense cloud of dust.

"Arrrgghhh! What the hell?!" 17 screamed right before she felt herself whisked off to an entirely different location. When she opened her eyes to see the ground moving thousands of feet beneath her. She would've screamed but she was too terrified to open her mouth.

"Gohan! I can't believe we found a survivor this time, it's been years!" A voice yelled excitedly from beside her. It was true, the androids had been growing even more merciless and rarely left anyone alive. Even those who did didn't stay alive long. She looked to her left and saw a young man with bowled lavender hair carrying her father's body through the air.

"I know Trunks, let's hope they aren't too traumatized by the event for us to help them though," Came the voice of the man that had been carrying her. The lavender haired teen gave an understanding nod and they started to descend. They were landing near the ruins of the old Capsule Corp building, which confused her but she was happy just to be away from the twins.

"This whole ordeal may be awful, but I think we hit a lucky break with the androids not being able to sense energy." The lavender hair boy spoke as they landed. The larger man set her down and backed up a few feet so she could get a full view of them. On the right there was the purple haired boy, he had a black tank top and gray cargo pants with yellow boots. Strapped around his back was the sheath of a sword with a silver guard, leather grip and round silver pommel peeking out from it. On the left there was a man who looked to be about her age with spiky black hair. He sported an orange and blue dogi, the boots being dark blue with orange stripes. What stood out most though was the metallic gray arm that emerged from his left sleeve.

"Please, please don't kill me!" She yelled stumbling back and placing herself in the best fighting position she could manage. Gohan looked slightly baffled at first, why woul they think he'd kill her? He stood confused for a few minutes longer until he followed her gaze towards his arm. He glanced down at the shiny metallic limb for a few seconds and sighed, wires twisting together in his mental preocessing.

"I'm not an android or anything if that's what you're thinking. I have this-" He said raising the robotic arm, "Because of those bastards in the first place," She slightly lowered her defenses, but her suspicions weren't cleared yet.

"Who are you people?!" She asked angrily.

"I'm Son Gohan and this is Trunks you may know his mother Bulma. We've been trying to defeat the androids ever since they arose." He stated. She lowered her defenses a bit more.

"Bulma? Is that why we're at Capsule Corp?" Both of them nodded.

"We have an underground bunker the Androids never found. We've been trying to find survivors, but as of late there haven't been any. Do you mind telling me this man's name? We'll want to write it on his grave marker." Spoke the younger one, Trunks.

"It was Mark." She said softly, holding back tears.

"And yours?" Asked the older one, Gohan.

"I'm…my name is Videl."

"Well it's nice to meet you Videl. We're going to save the world."

* * *

 **So I finally got around to starting this story. I'm really looking forward to working on this one. By the way in case you were wondering Videl's design is basically the same as her GT one just without the jacket and skirt. This won't really be any romance either, I'm going to be using Videl later on in the story so I brought her in. They'll be leaving for the past in the next chapter, so no worries.**


	2. Rewind

**Chapter Two: Rewind**

Today was the day, the day that they travel in to the days of yester. Yet of course, anxiety was thick in the air.

"So…you guys are actually going back in time?" Videl asked disbelieving. She was wrapped up with some bandages around her legs and arms. Now dressed in a new outfit of jeans and a white Capsule Corporation t-shirt.

"Yeah, before we would have never even thought of this as an option. But those androids have left us with literally no other choice." Gohan scowled, a sour look in his eyes. What else could a man feel towards people that had taken all he'd known away from him. Ripped away from his very eyes, unable to stop it. Those menaces had mocked him, even.

 _What are you gonna do little boy? The adults are all gone, there's nowhere left to run. Hahahaha!_ 17, he was always the one to utter taunts, initiate games.

 _Just leave him, 17. There's nothing he can do. There's nothing he'll ever be able to do._ 18\. Not one for games but always one for cruelty.

 _Whatever, feel free to come and try to attack us anytime you want. But we can't guarantee your life the next time._

So at that they had left him. Alone in the streets, hurt and mentally broken. Gohan had been so ashamed of his failure, of his weakness that he had never returned home. He couldn't have been able to look into his mother's eyes. His father's death at the hands of the then incurable disease, the destruction of the Z-Fighters and the thought of his mother's disappointment burned into his mind. These had been what sent him over the edge as the golden power flooded his body. But Gohan was smart and he knew that even with that power he couldn't defeat these newfound enemies. So all he could do was simply sit there, boiling in his own fury. From that point he'd wondered from town to town for refuge, eventually coming to the point where he challenged the androids when he could.

Those androids had spared him that day, and that was what would be their downfall.

"Trunks, you have the medicine for Goku, right?" Bulma asked her son, snapping Gohan from his flashbacks.

"Yeah of course mom." Trunks replied, showing the small capsule between his fingers before shoving back into his jacket pocket.

"So, how does this entire time travel thing work anyways?" Videl asked. Bulma chuckled at the woman's question.

"Well, I'd be happy to explain it to you once they've set off. But don't be upset if you don't get it." The scientist explained. Videl narrowed her eyes, a frown forming.

"Are you calling me stupid?" She growled. Bulma looked taken aback.

"Oh no, of course not! I'm just saying it's an extremely complex and difficult subject. It took us years just to figure the concept out ourselves. No offense meant, honest." Bulma said apologetically. Videl settled down, but still held a glare.

"So what's up with your guys' get up?" She said waggling her finger between the two soon to be time travelers. Gohan had folded his gi and thrown it into the machine already, it's not like he was going to be leaving it behind. But he was now wearing gray sweatpants and a black hoodie with the CC's logo emblazoned on each shoulder. Trunk's had worn the same outfit as yesterday but now added was his mother's purple jacket.

"Well it would be pretty suspicious for me to be going around in the past wearing an outfit that looks basically the exact same as my father and his comrade's. We can't be revealing our identities to everyone, not unless completely necessary," Explained Gohan as he pulled the hood on.

"My mom gave me this jacket, she said it would look nice and that it might get cold," Trunks frowned. He didn't really see the problem with it. Videl held back her giggles as Gohan rolled his eyes. The duo climbed into the machine and said their goodbyes. But Videl called out one more time before their departure.

"Gohan, wait! When you get back, do you think…do you think you could teach me that flying thing you guys do?" This sparked a genuine smile from the man.

"Yeah, of course. You'd probably do better than Trunks when he first learned," He grinned as the hatch began to close.

"What? You weren't even there when I learned how to fly!" Shouted Trunks, obviously annoyed.

"Didn't have to be." Gohan taunted right before the dome shut. Minutes later the very fabric of space and time shifted around as the golden machine disappeared.

"Please come back safely." Bulma and Videl unknowingly whispered into the air in unity.

* * *

"This can't be Frieza, I know my dad beat him!" The younger Gohan shouted as the group of Goku's friends and acquaintances stared at the rapidly descending spaceship.

"As hard as it is to believe, that's not the worst of it. There's two of them, the other seems to have power similar to Frieza's if not the slightest bit larger." Piccolo scowled, trying to formulate a way that they could possibly overcome this.

"But that's impossible! There's no way this could be happening!" Krillin sobbed, knowing full well the terror of Frieza's power. With two of him here now, there was no chance in Krillin's eyes that they would be escaping.

"Shhh, the ship is landing. There's people coming out." Bulma quieted everyone, observing from the not-so-safety of the back of a boulder.

Marching out was what looked like looked like 15 goons decked in Frieza's galactic battle armor. Then out came the monster himself, Frieza. His entire lower body had been replaced with robotics, including his tail. So had his entire left arm and half of his face had been covered in technology and robotics as well. Soon though, came another, even more horrifying than the last. He had a similar appearance to Frieza's second form. The tall stature, the upward pointed black horns. But his one didn't have the strange gems on his shoulders and chest, only the one in his forehead. His skin was entirely lavender as well and didn't have the same wrinkly pink skin. He wore the same armor as Frieza had, but added was a navy cape, with red inside. If anyone were to guess, this must be Frieza's father. Most likely as well the true leader of the Planet Trade Organization.

"What are we gonna do, should we attack?" Yamcha shakily asked, obviously terrified.

"Wait, there's two more people down there now, one with a sword just took down all of Frieza's soldiers!" Tien shouted surprised, "One of them is a Super Saiyan! Could it be Goku? But his hair was purple…" Everyone was taken by surprise with the appearance of the floating golden hair.

"HE'S A WHAT?!" Came the roar of Vegeta.

* * *

"Here's your Super Saiyan, Frieza." Trunks spoke coolly. Frieza was aflame with Rage only yards away.

"WHAT?! HOW COULD THIS BE?! WHERE THE HELL ARE ALL OF YOU DAMN MONKEY'S COMING FROM?!" The tyrant screeched.

"Now, now son, calm down. Is this that so called 'Super Saiyan' you've been speaking of." King Cold's smooth voice cut through the air.

"No, father. The Saiyan I was looking for wore orange and he always had some dumb look on his face. I've never seen this boy before. But the hair…and those eyes, he has the same eyes." Frieza whispered, a look of terror briefly passing his features. "It matters not, however; I will take down both of these filthy monkeys one in the same." The Arcosian scowled. A small ball of shifting golden energy formed at the tip of his finger and began to rapidly expand.

"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you, Frieza." Said Trunks, position unchanging. Frieza growled and it seemed the energy attack's creation was multiplied.

"Why, you!" He spat angrily as the giant mass of energy shot off in the hybrid's path. Frieza was sure the attack would hit, surely this stupid boy was all talk, he hadn't even moved from the attack's path! He would be incinerated and that would be that. But before either of the Frost Demons could even comprehend, Trunks' sword was drawn. His face clearly seen between the path of the energy he had just bisected. The two halves shot off in opposite directions obliterating any rock formation they came in contact with.

"What's wrong, Frieza? Have you finally come to your senses?" Mocked the young man. Frieza scowled deeply, this rodent was _taunting_ him. He wouldn't stand for this, he no longer cared that the Saiyan Goku see his own planet destroyed. He would destroy every filthy cretin on this planet at that very moment.

"I AM THE MIGHT LORD FRIEZA, YOU SCUM! BE PREPARED FOR YOUR DEMISE ALONG WITH THE REST OF THESE PATHETIC, LOW LIFE ORGANISMS!" With that he shot into the sky, and held his right hand high. Trunks still stood unmoving, sword sheathed once more. Frieza poured much more power into the reddish orange sphere, his supernova. The same move he had used to destroy the planet Vegeta would be used to destroy this one as well. "THIS ONE IS FOR YOU FATHER." He threw the attack down straight into the Super Saiyan. He was hit dead on; he couldn't have lived through that one. But Frieza's eyes went wide as he saw the supernova being lifted from the crater it had been gouging into the earth. It was being held in the bare palm of the boy as he slowly walked towards them.

"Excuse me, is this yours?" Trunks smirked. _I'll wipe that smirk straight off his face_. It wasn't going to destroy Earth now, but still the boy. Frieza quickly slung his arm forward hurling a small blast of blue energy into the supernova. It immediately detonated, the explosion encompassing more than two times the original size of the miniature sun.

"Good job, son. It only took you three tries to take him down." King Cold joked with his son. The cyborg Arcosian frowned.

"It's not funny, father!" He exclaimed doing nothing to quell his father's laughter. Trunks scowled from his vantage point at the cliff behind King Cold's ship. The Saiyans, the Arcosians, the androids, he wondered if this planet's enemies would ever learn how to sense energy. He positioned his fingers in a rake like position and began to quickly claw them against his chest, creating friction. Due to the speed at which Trunks moves, a fire quickly sparked and Trunks infused it with his own energy. He had created it himself, naming it the Burning Attack. After the last swipe he quickly thrust his arms forward in Frieza's direction. The attack missed, of course, and Frieza was immediately floating in the air a distance away from Trunks.

"Boy did you really think that that would hit me?" Frieza droned, not even surprised at this point that he'd survived.

"It wasn't supposed to." The distance between the two was quickly crossed, Trunks with sword in hand. Frieza hadn't even had a moment to raise his hand in defense, he heard a ' _schling'_ sound as metal passed through flesh and cybernetics. The boy's face looked as if it had split in half, Frieza glanced downward at the tool of his demise. He barely managed a grunt as the sword disappeared once again. Soon Frieza was in ten pieces, unable to stop the passing events. Trunks gave one last cold glare before his palm rushed forward and eviscerated the Arcosian prince.

* * *

"Wow…He actually beat Frieza! Man I sure hope this guy is on our side!" Krillin exclaimed joyfully, maybe they wouldn't die after all.

"But what about the bigger guy? What are they gonna do about him? And who's the guy that's wearing black? He hasn't even taken off his hood yet!" Gohan began asking the questions they were all still wondering.

"Let's just hope for the best little guy. It looks like the Super Saiyan and the big guy are confronting each other right now," Yamcha said bringing everyone's attention back to the issue at hand.

* * *

"My, my, that was quite an impressive display, I must say! There are only a few I know of that I would have ever thought to be able to defeat my son. You could be an important asset to me, what do you say?" King Cold asked. Of course someone such as himself wouldn't even care about the death of his own son right before his own eyes. Of course only someone such as himself would offer a job to the one that had killed him.

"I'm sorry, Cold. But I'll have to refuse," Trunks replied through clenched teeth. The king showed the slightest bit of disappointment on his face.

"Well then I guess I'll have to destroy you now, young man." The king replied apathetically. Trunks readied his sword.

"WAIT!" A third voice shouted as Gohan descended next to his pupil, hood still donned. "I'll take this guy on, Trunks." The lavender haired teen didn't argue and simply jumped back to a safe difference.

"Oh, a new challenger? No matter. I'll kill you, then him, then the rest of you worms on this pathetic dirtball." Cold rolled his eyes, not even bothering entering a fighting stance.

"Long time no see, Cold. For me at least. Is it safe to assume that this is only your second form?" Gohan asked. King Cold looked genuinely surprised at the question.

"Quite perceptive you are, boy. This is indeed my 'second form' as you so call it. Are you familiar with how us Arcosians maintain our energy levels?" The Frost Demon answered, showing some interest.

"Unfortunately." Gohan spat.

"Surprising. May I ask your name?" King Cold questioned. Of course he didn't actually care, but he always thought that it was fun to toy with people. Gohan slowly pulled down his hood, the black spikes that were his hair popping up.

"My name is Son Gohan, and I'm a Super Saiyan." He responded as the golden energy burst to life around him.

* * *

 **Alright guys! King Cold vs. Future Gohan next chapter! And out to one reviewer, JollyPayton, I was more saying that this story wouldn't entirely be focusing on romance. I didn't say that there would be nothing between Gohan and Videl. Besides we'd have to wait until they're back in the future anyways. Thanks for reading!**


	3. Cold Justice

**Chapter Three: Cold Justice**

 _"Surprising. May I ask your name?" King Cold questioned. Of course he didn't actually care, but he always thought that it was fun to toy with people. Gohan slowly pulled down his hood, the black spikes that were his hair popping up._

 _"My name is Son Gohan, and I'm a Super Saiyan." He responded as the golden energy burst to life around him._

Cold's eyes happened to widen only the slightest bit, "Oh so you're one of these Super Saiyans? How many are there, exactly? Since there's you, that other boy and the one my son had initially come here for." The Arcosian king droned. If you ask him this whole 'Super Saiyan' ordeal had become quite tiresome.

"Trust me, _King_. I'm the last one that you'll ever see." Gohan sneered. He flared his golden aura dramatically and stared the Frost Demon dead in the eye, "So, when are you gonna transform?" The king frowned at the question.

"I see not the need the need to do so against you, _Super Saiyan_." He returned the sneer this time, uncharacteristic of his usual stoic nature.

"Fine, but you'll regret it." Gohan announced, closing the Arcosian's chance at victory. In less than a second Gohan had dashed forward and planted a well-placed fist into Cold's midsection. The Frost Demon let out a startled gasp and swung his elbows down towards the smaller warrior in a bout of anger. Gohan ducked and backed away from the attack using the momentum to flip and connect his feet with the gem in the creature's forehead, launching himself a couple yards away to reposition.

"Quite the annoying pest aren't you, I'll dispose of you quickly." He scowled, launching both arms forward with both index fingers pointed. Twin death beams raced towards the hybrid's heart at an incredibly fast rate. Yet, not fast enough. A foot before the beams met Gohan's sternum he held out a single hand and brushed the attack aside as if it were nothing more than a stray fly. The king scowled once again _It's evident that energy attacks won't be effective, even at close range._

The King rushed forward and threw a kick towards the warrior's head. Gohan ducked underneath, grabbed the Arcosian's raised leg and hurled him into the ground.

"You're not doing so hot, Cold. Sure you don't want to transform?" Gohan mocked. Cold immediately recovered and jumped up swinging an uppercut towards the spiky haired warrior. Gohan tilted his head back nonchalantly, dodging the attack by centimeters. He delivered a kick to Cold's side sending the king plummeting towards the earth once again. From the dust multiple basic ki blasts erupted, some aimed towards Gohan and others flying off in random directions. While Gohan was confused, he did nothing. It was obvious enough the Arcosian was aiming towards the gathering of people in the mountains. Trunks would handle what the others couldn't.

"Trying to distract me, Cold?" Gohan asked in the direction of the dissipating dust cloud.

"In fact I was." A voice came from behind. Gohan quickly intercepted a ki blade aimed for his neck and snapped it, destroying the integrity so the ki disappeared, "It seems you care nothing of those other rats spectating." Cold assumed as he aimed a knee towards Gohan's spine.

"They can handle themselves against some pathetic blasts like those." The scarred warrior jeered. He performed a backflip, evading the knee and grabbed Cold's horns connecting his own knee with the back of the Frost Demon's head. He kept hold of the horns and swung Cold towards the ground. The King steadied himself in the air.

"Your obsession with throwing me to the ground is getting quite annoying, ant." Cold spat from his aerial position.

"Then let's fight for real!" Gohan yelled as he rushed forward. Blows landed and blows missed from either side, yet it seemed that King Cold was the only one tiring from the brawl. He jumped back several yards.

"Fine I'll humor you, if only to see how fast I can obliterate you and your pathetic friends." Cold seemed finally seemed compliant to accept Gohan's want of his transformation. His body armor shattered as his skin began to morph. Unlike Frieza's third form Cold's gemmed forehead didn't just grow upward and enlarge but instead grew backwards and curved down. The same had happened with his horns and they even seemed to sharpen out. He bulked out slightly and seemed to grow yet another foot. The body armor that was fused with their races skin grew over the tip of his tail and extended over his shoulders taking the place of the galactic body armor he formerly wore. His power skyrocketed compared to his previous form.

"Are you happy now? You pathetic vermin." Spat the unforgiving king.

* * *

"Gohan…I hope you know what you're doing." Trunks muttered from his position atop the cliffs.

* * *

"Woah! So that guy _can_ transform! His transformation isn't nearly as ugly as Frieza's was though!" Krillin exclaimed.

Vegeta held his head in his palms, "Three Super Saiyans? How is that even possible? Kakarot, his brat, and I should be the only Saiyans even left in existence!" He was obviously distraught. The grandiose title of the Super Saiyan was meant for his use only. How could it dare be passed around as if it were nothing more than a Roktia'an whore! It infuriated him so that he was tempted to flee the sight in rage. However even if not of his own doing Vegeta was elated to see Frieza's bloodline destroyed, so he chose to stay and watch.

"That guy better know what he's doing. The big Frieza seems like he just got way stronger." Yamcha scorned, doubtful of the mysterious Super Saiyan's ability.

"The big guy's name is King Cold, and while he indeed has grown stronger it seems his power is steadily becoming more unstable. This 'guy' probably knows this, he's using it to advantage." Of course with Piccolo's Namekian hearing he had been catching the conversation elicited in the Saiyan and Arcosian's battles. The identity of this Super Saiyan baffled him, how could it be that this man was the same person as his pupil? Momentarily Piccolo glanced down to his left at the young boy who eagerly observed the battle and worriedly looked back ahead to the altercation.

* * *

"Look at you, just like I remember, Cold." Gohan voiced. Indeed, in his timeline Cold had transformed into his third form to attempt and take on his father. Goku's power had been too strong for the king and he had ultimately been defeated. There was always one thing Gohan had kept since watching that battle in his timeline. Cold's power was unstable, fluctuating and hard for him to control. He had guessed that the Arcosian monarch had never trained in his higher forms and that the power was extremely hard for him to control. At this point he'd guess Cold was the slightest bit stronger than him but Gohan knew he had better control of his power. So if he could just anger Cold enough to push him into his final form…

"Whatever do you mean? I have no recollection of anyone that's still alive having seen this form before. Nor do I have any recollection of ever seeing you before this time." Cold said. He had been confused as to why this man had repeatedly been speaking of him as he knew of him.

"I really can't say…let's just get back to it." Gohan opted to attack with energy attacks off the bat. Quickly he jumped into the air and raised his hands above his head and laid them over top of eachother.

"MASENKO HA!" He screamed as the golden beam erupted from his hands and shot straight towards Cold. Being as ever arrogant as he was Cold didn't even move from the path of the attack. Exactly what Gohan had been expecting. He kept his hands in place and charged his ki for longer, condensing it. Right before the golden beam disappeared he hurled at the Frost Demon.

"MASENDAN" The grenade like attack struck Cold's armored chest, exploding on impact and spreading cracks along. The gem in the middle remained intact though. That was always something that bewildered Gohan, what exactly those things were. Probably something though that he would never discover.

"That was quite a powerful attack indeed. My turn." Cold charged midnight black energy crackling with fuchsia lightning. They had semblance to Frieza's death ball attack, yet more ragged and chaotic energy, more destructive. Gohan knew he couldn't let those spheres touch the landscape and much less any living organism, the results would be catastrophic. The attacks were launched and Gohan quickly covered his feet in a thin veil of ki pushing outwards. The first attack came and he kicked the ball into the air where it disappeared. Quickly he transferred the ki into his hands and intercepted the second attack. He spun around and launched it back at its creator. Cold clearly wasn't expecting the outcome of this and panicked. Caring nothing of the planet's environment he quickly jumped out of the way. Gohan had seen it coming and when he had spun around he'd implanted a small portion of his ki in the center of the miniature death ball. He pulled the death ball back towards his direction causing it to crash into Cold's back. When the dust cleared Cold sat on his hands and knees, scorch marks covering his back.

"You impudent, scum. You will pay for that!" Cold stood up and pointed two digits on each hand as if they were double barreled pistols.

"GHOST KING" He shouted, a bit odd if you asked Gohan. Cold didn't seem like one to call attacks. The Arcosian began aiming his fingers and firing rapid death beams. Gohan swiftly dodged and zig zagged between the spears of energy. They passed by them and punctured rock and earth itself. One last beam shot from Cold's hand aiming for the hero's heart. Gohan put his left arm up to block the attack and Cold smirked. His smirk immediately faded when the ki only sizzled through the hoodie's fabric and bounced harmlessly off his arm. The smirk was passed to Gohan as he pulled the sleeve of his hoodie up revealing his mechanical arm. Cold looked perplexed.

"What could your arm be made from to withstand my full power death beam?" He inquired, he knew of few metals durable enough for such a feat.

"Same stuff as your ship over there." He said pointing a metal finger towards the bug looking ship seated upon the earth across the clearing. Cold became even more confused.

"What? How was someone like you able to acquire Zafarkian Steel?" It was considered the fourth strongest metal in both the Northern and Western galaxies. Along with that it was exceedingly rare, a low class Saiyan couldn't have gotten their hands on it. This saiyan's origins were becoming increasingly strange to the king.

"So that's what it's called? Well Cold I guess you'd be surprised." He spoke smoothly. Irritating Cold had been fun to Gohan but it was time to get down to business. Gohan rushed forward and cross chopped Cold in the neck then grabbed the Arcosian's shoulders and kneed him in the face. He planted his feet on Cold's horns and jumped back landing on hands and feet. He dashed forwards and kicked Cold's feet out from under him, forcing his elbow into the gem on his chest sending Cold into the ground. The king placed his hands on the ground and kicked Gohan into the air. He rushed after the flying figure and caught him by the hair and forcefully slammed the Saiyan's face into his own knee. He tossed the Saiyan towards the ground but he never struck, Cold punted him back into the air and hurled a ki blast from each hand at him. Gohan recovered and spun in the air dodging both ki blasts.

"That all you got?" He grinned. Gohan hoped the mockery he'd been making of the monarch had been helping to irritate him.

"Boy, you never want to see _all_ that I have." Cold seethed. It seemed as if Gohan's plan was working somewhat, at least.

"C'mon! You scared?" Gohan formed twin cerulean energy spheres in each hand. It was a technique primarily used in underwater conditions but it still served use.

"TWIN DRAGON SHOT!" He yelled hurling the spheres. Cold attempted to intercept them but to no avail. Gohan brought one hand up causing a sphere to crash into his chin forcing his head upwards. He curved the other hand around and abruptly forced it down, having the sphere impact Cold's face and send him into the ground. King Cold clambered from the crater he'd created breathing heavily, face dark from both malicious intent and scorch marks.

"That is the last time you send me to the ground, Saiyan! If you wanted my full power here it is!" Cold shouted from his position in the crater. He clenched his fists and began to grunt in effort and pain, a red glow surrounding his body. As his power grew the grunts turned to quick bursts of shouting to sessions of screaming. Cracks began to spread along the auras form until it grew bright enough to cover the Arcosian's entire form and proceeded to shatter.

There breathing deeply in the crater, Cold stood. His horns had vanished completely. His head was now very similar to Frieza's final form, with the exception of the gem being dark green. His body was still the pale lavender it had been before and the bone like body armor braces on his hands and legs were still intact only without the pink designs. The armor also covered his chest and shoulders, the gem sitting in the middle, and formed a crown like protrusion around his head. He stood a couple of feet shorter than before, still stacking up to around eight and a half feet.

"Prepare to die, Saiyan."

* * *

"Holy shit! Even I can feel it now, this guy's power is out of control!" Yamcha frightfully stumbled back away from the source of immense power. Piccolo nodded.

"His power is much stronger than Frieza's final form was. But Frieza seemed calm when he transformed, I don't think this guy has much control over his power." Piccolo stated. Anyone on the planet with any sort of ki sense would be able to detect this power.

"I sure hope the Super Saiyan guy knows what he's doing…" Gohan muttered watching the battle fearfully.

* * *

 _Finally, I can't believe this actually worked._ Gohan mentally relieved. He had to be on his toes now though. Cold was much stronger physically and most likely faster as well. Cold rushed forwards aiming a punch towards Gohan's kidney. He barely turned out of the way in time and jumped back aiming a kick. Cold caught the Saiyan's foot and tossed him away hurling a ki blast in his direction. The blast struck Gohan's chest forcing him to cough up blood. He needed to wait, wait for him to say something. Gohan kept on in his endeavor of barely evading Cold's attacks. A death beam punctured his shoulder but managed not to make it the whole way through, that wouldn't be good. A punch was landed on his abdomen, a kick to the neck, a chop to the throat. But he had to wait.

"What's wrong, Saiyan?! Where has all your confidence gone?!" The king shouted, there was Gohan's shot. He quickly formed a small sphere of ki only an inch in diameter, purposely formed without control. Before Cold had shut his mouth, Gohan jumped up and flicked the sphere down the king's throat, it had amazingly gone unnoticed. Cold went in for another punch to the chest but abruptly stopped his assault.

"What…what have you done to me?" He gasped quickly clutching his own chest. Cold fell out of the air and crashed to the earth. Gohan followed and touched down on the ground, glaring down at the Arcosian.

"So what was that about 'the last time I send you to the ground'? I noticed how uncontrolled your energy was, I simply threw some of my own chaotic and uncontrolled energy into your system while you weren't paying attention. I take it they aren't reacting too well." The half-saiyan man explained.

"Y-you…bastard….h-how dare you..." The Arcosian muttered as the burning sensation spread throughout his entire body. Gohan said nothing as he flew away and met up with his pupil in his cliffside position. They both stared down as Cold released an agonizing scream and the energy burst from his body consuming all he was in the inferno.

* * *

"You were reckless, Gohan. You should have finished him off before either transformation happened, I would have." Trunks scolded, displeased with his master.

"Yeah I know, but all's well that ends well, kiddo." Gohan muttered, released his Super Saiyan form and quickly pulled his hood back on.

"You're bleeding, take this. We should go talk to the others." Trunks said handing Gohan a Senzu Bean and flying off towards the Z-Fighters. Gohan threw the Senzu bean in his mouth and flew after.

"Wow, that was amazing. What he did was genius!" The seven-year-old Gohan exclaimed. The others nodded in agreement.

"It was certainly impressive. But the questions of who these strangers are still stands." Piccolo rationalized. Of course, he himself knew at least one of them, or he hoped so anyways.

"We may find out; they're flying over here." Tien pointed out, motioning to the strangers flying towards them. The purple hair teen touched down while the hooded man floated in the air.

"Hey guys, Goku will be here in about 45 minutes, follow me." He explained attempting to lift off. As suspected he was interrupted by inquiries of the confused Z-Fighters.

"You know Goku?" Krillin asked, surprised.

"By reputation yes." He answered quickly.

"Who are you two?" Tien demanded. Trunks of course saw this coming and sighed.

"You'll find out when Goku gets here, could you please follow me? I have snacks." Trunks offered, everyone nodded and resorted to following the boy.

* * *

 **40 Minutes Later**

"Hey, can I have another grape soda, Mister Super Saiyan?" Gohan asked the hooded hero. Future Gohan looked down at the younger version of himself.

"Uh yeah, sure, go ahead." He replied fidgeting. The younger boy shouted a 'thank you' before bouncing off towards the fridge Trunks had produced from a capsule. Talking to himself was very strange. Especially the younger innocent version of himself, free of the terrors of a world ravaged by villainy and chaos. It seemed Trunks interactions weren't going well either. Trunks had been glancing in his father's direction every few minutes and it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"What the hell are you looking at? Never seen the color pink before?" Vegeta spat at the young man.

"Sorry." Trunks muttered and quickly averted his gaze.

"Look! Up in the sky." Gohan shouted, a space pod whirring through the air and soon crashing into the ground yards away. Everyone stumbled over each other and sprinted towards the crash site. They stood around the large crater that had been created and watched as the hatch opened. They all gasped horridly when the hatch opened, there was nothing there. Trunks and Gohan were especially confused by the event.

"Haha, got you guys!"

"GOKU!" Resounded across the desert.

* * *

 **Whew, I hope you guys liked the Cold vs Gohan fight! Next chapter, Goku is Here! The Future Warriors Warning?! Or something like that. I was also wondering if you guys would like me to try and put some power levels out. They wouldn't be all calculated and stuff like** _ **Bringer of Death**_ **'s or anything but you know just so you can kind of know and stuff. Thanks for reading!**


	4. The Hero's Return

**Chapter Four: The Hero's Return**

 _"Look! Up in the sky." Gohan shouted, a space pod whirring through the air and soon crashing into the ground yards away. Everyone stumbled over each other and sprinted towards the crash site. They stood around the large crater that had been created and watched as the hatch opened. They all gasped horridly when the hatch opened, there was nothing there. Trunks and Gohan were especially confused by the event._

 _"Haha, got you guys!"_

 _"GOKU!" Resounded across the desert._

"Daddy! You're back!"

"Hey, Goku! Nice to see ya man."

"It's nice to see you again, Goku."

"Hmph, so you aren't dead after all."

Numerous greetings came the group surrounding the man, at least most were greetings.

"And here I was thinking orange was a bad color on you, exactly _what_ are you wearing Kakarot?" Vegeta asked, obviously disgusted with his rival's wardrobe. Goku raised an eyebrow to the question.

"Pffft, well at least it's not pink." He retaliated. Vegeta scowled and turned away from the oddly dressed man.

"Never mind you, Kakarot!" Laughter erupted from the Z-Fighters.

"Hey, Goku. How'd you manage to escape Namek anyways?" Krillin asked, something the other Namek-goers had been wondering as well.

"Oh man it was crazy! I had doubts that I was actually going to make it. I tried to make it out on Frieza's ship, but the thing was busted. I managed to find another ship, kind of like the one's the saiyans used and escaped with seconds to spare!" Goku exclaimed waving his arms wildly in the explanation.

"Hmph, it must have been one of the Ginyu's." Vegeta scoffed.

"Well anyways, I didn't have any time to plan out my flight so I had to just punch in some random numbers. When I woke up I was on a strange planet called Yardrat, latest fashion by the way." He stated, tugging at the fabric on his chest, "So I stayed there until I was able to recover, learned a neat new trick too, plus I think they like me because I could eat as much as them! Haha! I noticed Frieza and the other guy on the way here but before I was able to arrive someone was already taking them on!" He yelled exasperated.

"Yeah man, you should've seen it. These two-" Yamcha pointed a thumb towards Gohan and Trunks, the latter gave a small wave, "Took them down, it was amazing! And to boot they're both Super Saiyans!" Goku's eyes widened. He himself had only become a Super Saiyan a year ago, where could these two have come from?

"Wow that's great, you two will have to show me later!" Goku shouted excitedly, being the Super Saiyan himself he had never seen it's countenance.

"Uh, hey Goku. How exactly was that you weren't, you know, actually inside the space pod?" Yamcha asked, in the excitement of their hero returning everyone had completely forgotten about the confusing spectacle.

"Well you know the trick I picked up I was talking about? It's called Instant Transmission, It's kind of like teleportation. I just have to focus on an energy signature and _zap_ I'm there! Here I'll show you." Goku touched two fingers to his forehead and suddenly he was gone.

"Wow, that's amazing…" Tien muttered. Seconds later the lovable warrior returned in the exact same spot wearing a red pair of sunglasses.

"Are those…Roshi's?" Bulma asked, equally amazed by the technique shown.

"Hehe, you bet!" He exclaimed, repeating the technique and reappearing once again, the sunglasses gone. Trunks stepped forward.

"Goku could we speak with you, in um, private?" He asked. Hopefully Goku would be all they'd have to reveal their identities. Aside from Piccolo, Gohan had already informed him of the Namekian's hearing so it was inevitable that he would find out. But Gohan had also told him that Piccolo was to be trusted and that he wouldn't say anything. But it was imperative that at least Goku knew who they were.

"Um, yeah okay." He responded following them to a rise in the landscape a distance away from the group.

"Thank you, Goku."

"Hey, I should be thanking you guys. You two defeated Frieza and that other really strong guy." He said with a smile plastered on his face.

"Well you were running a bit late, so we figured we'd step in." Trunks explained shrugging his shoulders, "But why didn't you just use that _Instant Transmission_?" He emphasized the last words shooting a glare towards his mentor. Gohan raised his hands defensively, he'd never seen the need to bring it up.

"Well I was just about to when I sensed they'd landed. But then you guys handled them so I just figure I'd sit it out for the trip." He explained shrugging his own shoulders. Trunks nodded.

"Hmph. I just wish I'd have known and we could've avoided the risk of meeting all the others…" Trunks sighed, face down.

"What do you mean 'the risk'?" Goku had thought the young man had purposefully meant to meet up with his friends.

"Okay, I don't mind answering that question. But first, can you transform into a Super Saiyan at will?" He knew that Goku had only recently obtained the Super Saiyan form, so he had his doubts.

"Yeah, actually! I had a little trouble at first, it was completely spontaneous. But while training on Yardrat I was able to gain control of it!"

"Can you show me?" Goku looked somewhat surprised. But nodded anyways, he cleared his head and let his power burst forth. Soon he had the flaming golden aura surrounding his form, his eyes shifted color. The Z-Fighters looked amazed after seeing the Super Saiyan up so close. The young Gohan had informed them of it, but in most cases a real life event severely outweighs words. This event especially counted.

* * *

"Woah, I didn't know Goku was able to emit this much power!" Tien exclaimed.

"Wow! His hair actually turned blonde!" Bulma gasped, intertwining her fingers into her own lavender locks.

* * *

"Impressive, but you still don't feel as strong as my mentor." Goku ignore the comment, a serious expression overtaking him.

"So what now?"

"Now, we both be Super Saiyans." Trunks said, "Let's see what you've got." Trunks rushed forward his sword drawn. He cut downwards, stopping shortly before the sword struck. "You didn't even attempt to dodge…" Goku grinned.

"I read your intentions, I knew you weren't going to hit me." He said smiling, Trunks nodded.

"This time, I won't stop." Goku nodded and held up a single finger, surrounding it with his aura. Trunks lunged swinging and slashing his sword at every spot he thought could be a weak point. Each strike was met with Goku's index finger, not a single one given a shimmering chance of passing. Finally, Trunks relented and held his sword to the dirt.

"You're really as good as I was told." Goku smiled. The young warrior powered down and threw his sword into the air, tilting slightly to catch it within his sheathe.

"Wow Goku, way to go!" Yamcha yelled.

"Haha, woah those two are amazing!" Krillin praised.

"Damn you Kakarot…" Vegeta clenched his fist. The spectacle angered him to the extreme. How dare those two show off in front of them! He would show them all! He would be the real Super Saiyan!

"So, do you mind telling me the 'risk' of meeting my friends now?" Goku asked. Trunks nodded somberly.

"The thing is, we're not from this time, we come from 20 years in the future. If you were to tell about us it could alter the time stream in unpredictable ways." Goku looked astonished, "You may be wondering about the Super Saiyan thing as well. You, Gohan and Vegeta should be the only ones with Saiyan blood and that's true. Vegeta is where I get that from, he's my father and I'm Hallf-Saiyan. I will be born two years from now." Goku basically jumped in shock.

"Wow, Vegeta is your father?! Are you sure?!" Goku swiveled his head around to glance at the other full-blooded Saiyan man on the planet also catching sight of a certain Namekian trying to hold back laughter, "Yeah I can see it! Wow that's amazing, he's going to be a daddy! Haha!" Goku ceased his laughter after a while, he had another question, "But that doesn't explain everything. They said he was a Super Saiyan too, who's he?" Goku asked pointing towards the hooded warrior.

"Well, Goku. Think back, who has Saiyan blood that isn't you or my father?" Goku thought for a minute and suddenly his mouth fell.

"But, it couldn't be…" Gohan turned to where only Goku and Trunks could view him, pulling down his hood.

"Hey dad…long time no see." Goku gasped and looked his son over.

"Gohan, is that really you? Wow you're so strong!" He exclaimed also noticing his son's significant power.

"Yeah it's me, dad…" Before anything else could be said Trunks coughed, Gohan quickly pulled his hood back on.

"That's not what's important here, you two." Goku averted his attention back to the purple haired teen, "3 years from now on May 12th at 10 AM, two incredibly destructive androids will appear 9 miles south of South City. I can only describe them as monsters Goku, monsters. Their power is dreadful even by our standards. On that day all that you know will be gone, your friends will try to destroy the androids but to no avail. They were created by an evil man named Gero, Doctor Gero, the mastermind responsible for the old Red Ribbon Army. Do you know of him?" Goku gasped.

"The Red Ribbon Army, man yeah I remember taking them down! But I don't really remember a Gero, he must've been the guy who created Eighter! So is this Gero guy trying to get revenge on me?" Trunks nodded.

"That's exactly what he's trying to do, Goku. But he never gets his revenge, after all." Trunks revealed causing Goku to frown.

"What do you mean? Did the androids kill me?" He quickly shot out questions.

"No Goku, in fact you never even live to see the androids. A year from now you contract an incurable heart disease and unfortunately pass away. Gero doesn't realize this and releases the androids anyways. The only fighter who survives is my mentor Gohan. Tienshinhan, Krillin, Yamcha, Piccolo, and even my father were all brutally murdered. We have been combatting the androids for years but with no positive results. So my mother came up with this idea so we could come back and save you." Trunks dug into his pocket and threw a small capsule towards the man, "In the future, we were actually able to develop a cure." Goku smiled.

"So now I'll actually be able to fight the androids! But hey, by the way you never told me who your mother was. Who was she?" Trunks sighed, that was of course the one thing that Goku picked up on.

"My mother is Bulma…" Goku's mouth fell open and he immediatey flopped onto the ground roaring with laughter.

"You mean, hahahah, him!" Goku pointed towards the pink shirted warrior, "And her!" He pointed towards the curly haired genius, "Pfffft, hahahahah!" Trunks tried to shush him, he didn't exactly want this to be public knowledge. But someone else was heard laughing along.

"What's so funny, Namekian?" Vegeta spat, easily heard in the distance.

"YOUR FACE." The Namekian quickly covered his real reason of amusement with yet another unnecessary jab at Vegeta.

"Fuck you!" Vegeta spat once again. Trunks sighed and turned back to the warrior lying on the ground running out of breath.

"Anyways, Goku. Can you tell the others about the androids? We'll need to be going. But we'll see you again in three years your time. Goku straightened himself out and nodded solemnly.

"Yeah you guys seem trustworthy. We'll make sure to train in the meantime, so we can be more than ready to take them on!" Trunks smiled, a true brilliant smile. There was hope that the world would be saved after all. As Goku flew down to tell the others, Trunks opened the capsule containing their time machine and they hopped inside.

"Alright Trunks, set the machine for May 12th age 767."

* * *

 **Sorry this chapter was so short and boring guys. But it was imperative to the story and I didn't want to skip it so just bear with me.**

 **To JollyPayton, F. Trunks and F. Gohan may have some part in little Gohan's training, guess you;ll just have to wait!**

 **And to StevenBodner I agree! Future Gohan didn't get enough story so here I am. I love all versions of Gohan though so there's that.**

 **Thanks for reading, until next time!**


	5. Icy Retribution

**Chapter 5: Icy Retribution**

 **Age 737**

A tall, slender Arcosian sat upon a throne in his ship floating among the darkness of space. He frowned as a monitor crackled to life beneath him. It depicted the scene of a younger Arcosian standing atop a ship of his own, sneering down at the lone Saiyan warrior that had confronted him. His sneer turned to a smirk as the warrior charged him, and he created a small sun within his hand. It grew immensely as he flung it in the warrior's direction, evaporating him and all soldiers within the area instantly. The Arcosian cackled with maniacal glee as the blast charged forth, heading for the warrior's planet, Planet Vegeta.

"Sir Cooler, it seems Frieza has gone ahead with his plans to destroy the Saiyans." One of his warriors announced, snapping him from his thoughts. He scoffed and lowered his throne down to the floor.

"And why, Salza, should I care of my brother's petty squabble with those monkeys?" He scowled, sending shivers down the warrior's spine.

"Well, uh, sir you see it seems that three lifeforms have escaped the destruction. One in a Saiyan Space Pod and two others in an unidentified mode of transport. We were wondering whether or not we should intercept and destroy." The blue skinned alien explained, flashing a picture of a space pod streaking through the vacuum onto the monitor.

"Hmph, if the fool is too ignorant to realize his own mistakes then let it be his downfall." The Arcosian prince spat, giving a final glance to the exploding Planet Vegeta.

* * *

 **Age 766, June**

Parted waves crashed together as an azure beam of energy streaked across the ocean causing ripples throughout. Muten Roshi sighed and lowered his energy, his muscles collapsing in as he reverted to his usual, frail self.

"Eh heh heh! So how was that, Goku?!" The turtle master cackled, clearly impressed by his own demonstration. Goku smiled and laughed along.

"Impressive, Roshi! Really! But watch this!" Goku said excitedly as he spread his feet and began an all too familiar mantra. He cupped his hands towards his side.

"Kame…" A glowing orb formed within the confines of his hands.

"Hame…" He arced his arms back, the energy glowing brighter, growing stronger.

"HAAAA!" The earth raised Saiyan screamed as he thrust his arms forwards, releasing an immense Kamehameha that would've blinded the old master had he not been wearing his signature sunglasses. It pushed the ocean apart, walls of water shooting straight up into the air as the energy passed.

"Wow, that's amazing Goku! I can see straight to the mainland!" The walls of water crashed into each other creating large waves that rolled over top of another spraying water at distances of 50 feet. "Man, you sure have gotten stronger since you left on that trip to Namek." Roshi said, much more impressed at his former Pupil's power.

"Haha, thanks Roshi!" Goku smiled. He glanced upwards at the sun noting the time of day, "Oh shoot. It was nice talking to you Roshi. I'll see ya later!" The turtle hermit's student suddenly said as he touched two fingers to his forehead and immediately vanished from sight.

Roshi stood, mouth agape after seeing the fighter completely disappear before his eyes, "Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to that one…"

* * *

"Let's see, just divide this by 6 and multiply the radicals…" Gohan muttered as his explanations on his math vanished into his mind. Chi Chi came in seconds later carrying a tray of iced tea, humming to herself.

"There's my little scholar! Always hard at work, here's some tea to keep your mind fresh and awake!" The mother smiled as she set the glass down on a stack of books, she turned and frowned as she heard a chirp from the window. There sat a small purple dragon by the name of Icarus. Gohan had found the dragon as a baby some three years ago in a burned down forest, and the dragon had stayed with him since.

"Oh no, I see what you're doing, you better shoo. Gohan is doing-" Chi Chi's scolding was interrupted as she heard another voice shout from outside the house.

"Hey Icarus, leave Gohan alone he's trying to do his homework!" Goku shouted, gathering what looked like pots and pans outside. Chi Chi tried to form words but she was utterly confused.

"I – uh, what?" She stuttered, Goku had never cared about Gohan's schooling before. Something had to be wrong. "Um, Goku, honey! Are you okay?" She shouted, concern for her husband creeping into her mind.

"Ohh, yeah. I'm fine Chi, I just want Gohan to finish his homework!" Goku called back. Now Chi Chi definitely knew something was wrong.

"Oh my, Gohan. All of that fighting must have bruised your father's brain, his screws have been knocked loose!" The woman began her over exaggerations, grabbing the iced tea from the table and drinking half the glass. She slowly walked to the doorway and viewed as her husband rummaged through the kitchen, humming to himself, "My husband…he's a vegetable…" Chi Chi muttered disdainfully.

"Uh, mom, I don't think you know what-" This time it was Gohan that had been cut off his mother stepped forwards.

"I have to get him to bed, he's going to hurt himself!" The former martial artist lunged forward attempting to restrain her husband. Goku swiveled on his feet and turned, causing her to crash into the table and land on the floor. Goku turned, completely ignoring his fallen wife, and shouted into his son's room.

"Gohan, hurry up and finish your homework so we can go camping!" He shouted slinging a yellow camping pack over his shoulder. Chi Chi scowled from the floor, it was all clear to her now. Goku finally turned to his wife's position, she had a scowl on her face, "Uh, hey Chi Chi, watcha' doin' down there?" The oblivious man questioned. Chi Chi angrily tapped her fingers on the floor while glaring up at her husband.

"Camping, huh? So is that why you wanted Gohan to finish his homework?" She asked angrily, slowly clambering to her feet.

"Yeah Chi Chi, we've been working hard for almost two years so we figured we could take one night off!" He explained. Chi Chi narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, and who all is _we_?" She seethed.

"Hey!" A voice echoed from the doorway. Chi Chi turned to see Krillin standing there waving with a large smile on his face. Beside him stood the shapeshifting pig Oolong, former bandit Yamcha and the chubby ronin Yajirobe.

"Oh I see, you had this all planned out _didn't_ you?" Chi Chi accused, lunging forward and grabbing fistfuls of Goku's orange gi, "Tell me, Goku! Which is more important, your son's work or camping!?" Krillin and the others began to frightfully back away from the woman.

"Oh c'mon Chi, I'm no idiot. Even I know that one!" Chi Chi released her husband's shirt, letting out a content breath, "Camping of course!" Her legs collapsed beneath her as she fell towards the floor once again. Goku frowned down at her before turning back towards his son's bedroom, "Hey Gohan, forget that! Let's get going!" He shouted and turned to walk out of the house.

"Okay, dad! Come on Icarus let's go!" Gohan grabbed his purple gi and jumped out of the window onto his dragon's back.

"Oh, don't you _dare_!" Chi Chi attempted to halt her son's departure, scrambling into the bedroom.

"Bye mom!" The young scholar shouted as he took off into the sky, leaving Chi Chi in despair.

* * *

On a small planet in a distant sun system lounged Cooler, a sandstorm blowing around him. " _What_? My brother, killed by a Saiyan? That's absurd." Cooler spat at the tall red alien, Neiz, that kneeled before him.

"It iz' true, Lord Cooler. The Saiyan has been residing on a planet known as Earth. It seems your father has perished as well…" Salza explained, slightly trembling in fear after issuing the last statement. Cooler narrowed his eyes angrily.

"Say _again_?" Cooler vehemently spoke through clenched teeth.

"Well sir, we were issued a report of your father heading to Earth to exterminate the Saiyan, but it seems that he never returned." Doore finished. An angry scowl carved its way into Cooler's face as he slowly rose from his throne.

"Salza, set the coordinates for this _Earth_." He said as he strutted towards his ship, "I'm going to avenge father and make sure Frieza's filthy name no longer tarnishes our race's name." He whispered scornfully.

* * *

"Hey Krillin, man, how's that stew coming along?" Yamcha asked, peering over his friend's shoulder into the pot of boiling meat and vegetables.

"Heh, it's looking pretty good, Yamcha. Just need Goku to come back with that fish and we'll be all set!" Krillin laughed, the scarred fighter laughing along with him, "It looks like the fire's getting a bit low though, Gohan?" Krillin looked over expectantly at the young martial artist. Gohan nodded.

"Right!" Gohan walked over and heaved up one of the tree trunks his father had punched down. He chucked it into the air and jumped up shortly after, performing a quick series of chops and kicks to the wood. He touched down and the wood fell down right after, the chopped pieces neatly stacking themselves to form a pyramid. The four spectators let out some 'ooh's and 'ahh's while Gohan bowed, causing the group to erupt in laughter. But Gohan became confused at the group's suddenly startled faces.

"Gohan, look out!" Krillin shouted. But before Gohan could even let out a 'huh' he was lifted from the ground by newly regrown tail, quickly diminishing his power.

"Oy, boys. This couldn't possibly be the Saiyan that took down Lord Frieza and King Cold, could it?" Doore questioned, swinging Gohan back and forth by his tail. Krillin went out with a thud as a gloved hand connected with the back of his neck.

"It would sure be dizapointing if it waz." Salza grumbled as he spooned the stew Krillin had been cooking into his mouth, "Bah, this is bland." He spat, throwing the pot towards the ground. This was enough to set Yajirobe off.

"Hey, that was my food!" Yajirobe yelled as he ripped his sword from its sheathe and swung it at the Brench soldier. Salza easily caught the sword between his fingers and tossed it aside, quickly planting his feet into the ronin's stomach, knocking him out cold. Yamcha knew he was in quite the predicament here; these guys had just taken out his friends like they were nothing. Oolong had taken to cowering behind a rock, he had the least chance of survival here after all. Yamcha charged Doore first, but before he could even yell 'WOLF FANG FIST' a third warrior grabbed him by the neck and smashed his head into ground, easily shifting him into unconsciousness.

"Hmph, what a pathetic display." Salza grumbled. He leapt off the ground and began to fly, Neiz following quickly after and then Doore after he tossed the Saiyan half-breed aside. Gohan panted and knelt on the ground, slowly regaining his power.

"No, dad…" Gohan rasped, realizing where they were heading. He slowly trudged forward, crashing back into the ground after and attempt at flight.

* * *

Water splashed out as Goku emerged from the lake, a giant fish clutched within his grip. "Ha, you're not that big…but I guess you'll do!" Goku laughed. His smile turned to a frown as a thin beam incinerated his catch. He turned around and glared towards the sky as the ashes floated out of his hands, leering at the laughing green figure floating above him. There were two other figures laughing a distance away as well. He took notice the lack of his friend's power levels as well.

"Who are you? What did you do to my friends, and my son?!" Goku yelled, floating out of the water. The trio landed on the ground and began to dance, striking a series of poses.

"We are…COOLER'S ARMORED SQUADRON!" They yelled in unison, all charging towards Goku at once. Goku frowned and jumped higher into the air.

"Huh, déjà vu…well there goes our camping trip!" Goku scowled as he blocked a punch from Salza. He floated in and out of strikes from the trio, swiftly dodging most attacks and blocking some. Goku kicked Salza away and landed a punch to Doore's sternum knocking him away. Goku charged Neiz and swung his leg towards the Zaltian's head, gasping in surprise as the alien pulled its head downward causing his kick to miss. Neiz quickly grabbed Goku's leg and threw him towards Doore who landed a fist directly in Goku's face knocking him towards the water.

Goku righted himself before he struck the lake and flew back up, punching Neiz in the stomach. The squadron quickly returned to the offense as they swung legs and fists attempting to strike the Saiyan. The Armored Squadron abruptly ceased their attacks and backed up in fear.

"Lord Cooler, I did not think you would be coming." Salza barely kept from stuttering. Goku turned around and glared at the Arcosian that was floating just above the water.

"You were taking too long, Salza. I figured I should just come out and finish this up myself," Cooler said smoothly.

"No way, Frieza?"

* * *

 **Hey guys, sorry this is late. I've been trying to catch up on some school work. I started this chapter a few weeks ago but I got sidetracked. Thanks for reading though.**

 **Until next time, mis fieles lectores.**


	6. Hide and Seek

' **Chapter 6: Hide and Seek**

 _Goku righted himself before he struck the lake and flew back up, punching Neiz in the stomach. The squadron quickly returned to the offense as they swung legs and fists attempting to strike the Saiyan. The Armored Squadron abruptly ceased their attacks and backed up in fear._

 _"Lord Cooler, I did not think you would be coming." Salza barely kept from stuttering. Goku turned around and glared at the Arcosian that was floating just above the water._

 _"You were taking too long, Salza. I figured I should just come out and finish this up myself," Cooler said smoothly._

 _"No way, Frieza?"_

"You insolent fool! How dare you compare Lord Cooler to the likes of his younger brother?!" Salza shouted at Goku in a rage. Salza would never let some stupid monkey insult his lord in such a manner.

"You…you mean that's Frieza's brother?" Goku asked, stupefied. They'd already had to put up with two other Arcosians of the royal blood line. How many more would come?

"Yes, yes that's right. Am I to assume that you're this Saiyan that has killed my brother and father?" Cooler seethed, "Not that I cared too much for Frieza, given the time I would have offed the spoiled brat myself." The Arcosian prince drawled with a wave of the hand. "But killing my father? That would be certainly be a problem for the both of us." Cooler finished, narrowing his eyes and clenching his fists.

"Uh, well I did beat Frieza on Namek but I didn't actually kill him." Goku grinned, causing Cooler to sneer and clench his fists tighter, "But the rest is kind of complicated. Your dad and brother sort of came to Earth to try and kill me, and well I guess everyone else here too." Goku's grin faltered and he scratched the back of his head, "But well before I could even get there, two other Saiyans from the future showed up and took them down!" Goku exclaimed, waving his hands wildly back and forth. Cooler intensified his glare while his subjects stared confusedly, only to burst out into hysterics seconds later.

"Lord Cooler, do you hear this!? Haha! Saiyans! From the future!" Doore yelled in between his bouts of laughter.

"Oh you bumbling monkey…So you kill my father and brother and now you're here mocking me? I should kill you on the spot." Cooler growled angrily. Goku frowned, he was telling the truth after all. So why didn't this guy believe him?

"What? No! I'm telling the truth!" Goku exclaimed, just dodging a hastily fired death beam. Goku quickly turned around after noticing a familiar power level heading his way. "Oh no…".

"Dad, there are people attacking! I'm coming!" Gohan yelled from the sky as he flew in from the horizon.

"Gohan, no! Turn around! This isn't the best place for you right now!" Goku shouted worriedly towards his son, who was still flying towards them. Cooler frowned and steadied his gaze on the young half-Saiyan boy in the sky.

"This isn't the best place for _anyone_ right now." Cooler said as ki burst from his eyes, heading directly at the young Gohan. Goku shouted and shot from the ground, cracking the earth as he went. He wrapped his son in his arms and yelled out in pain as the eye beams burned a hole in his gi and seared his flesh. Unable to maintain flight Goku spiraled towards the river, hurling a blue ki blast in Cooler's direction before crashing into the water. Cooler merely caught the shot and hurled it away, kicking off of the ground right after. He flew to the edge of the river to find a waterfall pouring over the edge. The prince scoffed and hurled a yellow blast down towards the lake below.

"Haha! Two dead Saiyans, looks like you just did the universe a favor Lord Cooler!" Neiz laughed, peering down to the lake where the Saiyans had fallen.

"You oaf, they're not dead." Cooler scoffed. His armored squadron blinked unanimously.

"They're…they're not?" Doore stuttered.

"No, of course they're not! No one who could take the full force of my retinal death beams would die from that. Now go, find them now!" Cooler yelled.

"Yes, sir!" The three yelled in unison, nodding at their lord and flying off in the direction they'd assume the saiyans had floated off to.

"Hmph, he's gotta be dead. No one's ever been hit by Cooler's death beam and lived to tell about it…that I know of anyway." Doore grumbled.

* * *

Goku burst from the water gasping with Gohan clinging to him. He quickly tredded to the nearest source of land and grasped upon it, attempting to pull himself ashore. He only managed to pull himself halfway up, his legs still dangling in the water. He lay torso down panting heavily as he faded into an out of consciousness.

"Dad! Dad are you okay? C'mon dad we gotta get cover, get up!" Gohan complained exasperated, shaking his father's body. Gohan sighed as he draped his father over his back slowly dragging himself along looking for somewhere to hide.

* * *

Krillin awoke to a wet towel being repeatedly dragged across his face, at least he thought it was a towel. It certainly had an odd texture and it seemed to be…chirping.

"Icarus, I think he's waking up! Keep licking." Oolong urged in his distinct nasally voice. Krillin immediately shot up and looked at the dragon in horror. He jumped back with Oolong, Yamcha, and Yajirobe looking at him worriedly.

"Ah, uh, that won't be necessary!" Krillin stammered, wiping his face off with his undershirt.

"Man, you finally woke up! I thought you were down for the count!" Yamcha exclaimed in relief, wiping his brow.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Krillin did a quick sweep of his surroundings, "Where's Goku and Gohan?" Krillin asked, they didn't stand a chance if the two strongest fighters they'd had with them had been taken down.

"We don't know, gone when we woke up." Yajirobe explained, shrugging his shoulders, "We were gonna go look for them when you woke up." Krillin nodded and clambered up from the ground.

"Alright, let's get looking. Yamcha make sure to keep your power hidden, these guys are bad news." The bald monk said. The group nodded and they began to creep into forest.

* * *

Gohan stumbled back into the dim cave he had just found, breathing heavily.

"Dad, C'mon! Get up dad, please!" Gohan pleaded, nearly falling back in surprise when his father's body began to twitch.

"Ngh, ugh, Gohan? Gah. I'm fried, I can't move." Goku grumbled attempting to sit up, only succeeding in falling back on the cave wall in pain. Gohan's head snapped to the side as he heard explosions ravage the ground outside. He rushed outside of the cave and gasped at the three warriors floating far above, erasing the forest. Gohan let out a quick yelp once he saw a stray blast heading in his direction, scampering back into the cave. The blast struck the ground and forced the cave to collapse. Gohan was now stuck in a collapsed cave, with his unconscious father, and still recovering energy that left him unable to push past the rubble.

"Oh, crap-baskets."

* * *

"Hahaha! This is why we're the best! Attention to detail." Doore laughed as he flattened the ground.

"Haha, Cooler's Armored Squadron, destroyers of monkeys!" Neiz cackled as he flung ki from his hands like it were nothing more than pitching a baseball.

"Neiz, shut it. Who would want to be called that?" Salza detested, scowling at his comrade. The warriors began to stop and looked down at the havoc they had created. The part of Earth they had leveled now had more semblance to a planet such as Mars than it did Earth itself.

"Ya think we overdid it?" Doore muttered, looking the area over. Salza merely laughed.

"Of courze not, at leazt now we know that those stupid monkeyz are dead. They must be in a million piecez!" Salza boasted, the group exploding into another fit of laughter.

"Oh, great…" A disappointed voice arose from behind the squadron, causing them to immediately desist their cackling, "Weak minds are easily deceived! They're still alive…" Cooler growled down at his men, "And I want you to comb every inch of this mess until you find them!" Cooler yelled in anger, turning back around with a swing of his tail. "I don't like these wretched games any more than you do. But I'd rather see him die with my own eyes, and I will."

"Yes, sir!" The three yelled in fear before flying off once again.

* * *

Night had fallen and the Saiyan Rescue Team™ had still been unsuccessful in finding their friends.

"Man, why can't I sense either of their powers? D-Don't tell me that that they're…dead?" Yamcha whispered horrified as they crept farther into the woods.

"Shut up, Yamcha! You're not helping." Oolong squeaked as he shivered in fear behind Krillin's back. Krillin scowled and continued searching for any vestige of the Son men's power levels. Icarus suddenly squawked and toddled over to a mountain of rubble as if motioning the others over.

"What is it, Icarus? Is it Gohan? Goku?" Yajirobe asked, bustling himself over to the cave with the others. Krillin tried to peer into the cracks the boulders' spacing made.

"Hey Goku, Gohan, are one of you in there?" Krillin whispered, knocking on one of the boulders with his fist.

"Krillin, is that you? Me and dad are trapped and I'm too weak to move these boulders right now. Can you help us?" Gohan's muffled voice pleaded from behind the rocks. The group breathed a collective sigh of relief while Icarus squawked happily at successfully finding his friend.

"Yeah Gohan, of course." Krillin nodded as he began to pull boulders away.

"Krillin, my dad says some animals are trapped. Can you guys help them?" Gohan asked worriedly. Typical of the two, putting the safety of any innocent lifeform over their own.

"Yeah, you heard him! Go give those animals a hand!" Krillin whispered to the rest of the group. They nodded in uniform and quickly went to the wildlife's aid. Krillin continued to pull rocks away until he had given enough space for Goku and Gohan to climb out.

"Hehe, thanks Krillin. Are those animals okay?" Goku asked in a whisper, wheezing.

"Yeah they're alright. I've got a search and rescue team on it!" Krillin nodded while smiling.

Icarus grabbed a fallen tree trunk with his mouth and lifted it up, allowing a trapped bear to stumble free. Yajirobe unsheathed his sword and began to cut vines that birds had been entangled in. Yamcha exerted himself and lifted a giant boulder out of the way, giving some rabbits room to crawl out of their burrow. Oolong grabbed a stray branch and used it to lift a large rock keeping a wolf cub stuck under its weight. He grinned as the small pup limped out from underneath the rock, but frowned when he heard a large rumbling noise. When he looked up his eyes practically popped from his head at seeing the immense boulder falling towards him.

"AHHH!" Oolong let loose a terrified yell, trying to scramble away. Yamcha quickly turned towards him and shot a ki blast up at the boulder, obliterating it. He looked down at his hand right after, scowling. He quickly looked to the sky where Neiz had started to streak through the sky at them. As if some extreme stroke of luck a pterodactyl ripped through the sky nearly taking Neiz's head off in the process. Yamcha could hear something a bit along the lines of 'must've been what set my scouter off' and sighed in relief.

"Alright Gohan you need to get to Korin and find some senzu beans." Krillin explained as the boy, climbed out of the cave, "We can't do anything right now, we're basically sitting ducks until you get back." Gohan nodded. "And remember what I said about flying!" Krillin whisper-yelled, giving a quick glare at Yamcha for his slip up who nervously scratched at the back of his head.

"No, problem Krillin! I've got the Icarus Express after all." Gohan smiled as he hopped on the young dragon's back.

"Uh, Gohan wait! I'll come with you! I know where the senzu's are!" Yajirobe quickly interjected before they took off.

"Oh, alright then come on Yajirobe."

* * *

"Ugh, I can't zee anything out here, it iz too dark." Salza grumbled as he floated thousands of feet above the Earth, scouring it for any signs of the Saiyans. Gohan snickered as he stealthily flew over Salza, a few hundred feet farther up.

"Wow Icarus, I didn't know you could fly this fast!" Gohan laughed as Icarus sped through the air at amazing speeds.

"This is so not cool…" Yajirobe muttered, being held up by the dragons back claws as they flew through the air. He hacked and coughed as a bug flew straight down his throat, opting not to open his mouth again. The sun had steadily begun to rise as it became daylight once again.

"Alright Icarus, we're coming up. Try to stay in this area and don't get caught by those bad guys!" Gohan patted the dragon's head and hopped onto Korin's tower and began climbing up. Yajirobe managed to free himself from the dragon's clutches and began to oull himself up around the opposite side of the tower, Gohan climbing at significantly faster speeds. "Haha, wow! I can see the top." The young Saiyan hybrid laughed in amazement as he jumped up into one of the small holes in the top of the tower. "Master Korin? Are you here?" Gohan asked as he scrambled up the steps.

"Ah well, if it isn't the son of Goku." Korin spoke in his raspy voice, back facing the boy.

"Hey, Master Korin! I came for some senzu beans; can I have some?" Gohan asked.

"So, you just come barging in here and now you want me to give you some of my senzu beans, huh?" Korin asked, feigning annoyance. "Well what did you bring for me?"

"But, sir! You have to give me the senzu beans, they're for my dad!" Gohan looked down and slowly stopped talking, "I'm being rude aren't I? Don't worry I'll be right back with a gift!" Gohan promised as he jumped onto the railing surrounding Korin's lookout.

"Hey, Gohan don't leave without these." Yajirobe said as he appeared from the inside of the lookout, throwing a brown sack at the boy.

"Oh wow! Senzu beans, thanks Yajirobe!" Gohan exclaimed, catching the bag in his right hand. Korin turned to face Yajirobe with an angry look.

"What?! Where did you even come from?!" Korin yelled.

"I'm the bean daddy this time! Bean daddy!" Yajirobe yelled back, forcing Gohan to cover his mouth to keep from snickering.

"Oh and who put _you_ in charge, they're my beans!"

"Well I watered them!"

"Oh you _watered_ them?!" Gohan began to feel bad and held the bag back out.

"Here Master Korin, I'll just give these back." The Saiyan boy sighed disappointed.

"Oh, well you do have pretty good manners…I guess you can keep them." Korin gave in, scratching the back of his head.

"You were gonna give him the beans anyways!"

"Oh, shut up you!"

"Thanks Korin! You coming Yajirobe?" Gohan asked as he began to walk back towards the ledge.

"No way, man. I'm not putting up with any of this, thought we were done with all the alien attacks…" Yajirobe scowled, catching a senzu bean Korin had thrown up into the air to catch in his mouth, "Here Gohan, take this one too." He said chucking the bean at the young boy. Gohan caught it with his open hand.

"Oh, another senzu! Thanks!" Gohan said as he finally jumped down from the ledge, "ICARUS, I'm ready boy!" The dragon swooped in out of nowhere and caught the boy, zooming off.

"I don't know why I let you stay here…" Korin grumbled.

"Beats the heck out of me."

* * *

Yamcha awoke to find the sun blaring into his eyes, "Ugh, wow is it morning already?" He looked over at Goku's resting body, "Hey Goku, man wake up. Goku. Goku!" Yamcha shook the man. Goku turned over on his rocky bedside.

"Hey, cut it out…I'm alive alright?" Goku muttered. Yamcha laughed.

"Well ya just gotta make sure man, after al there's no use in guarding a dead guy." Yamcha said.

"Yeah, that's right…" Goku muttered again before falling back into unconsciousness.

 _Gohan, hurry up little buddy, your dad needs you._

* * *

"Icarus what's wrong? Did carrying Yajirobe tire you out?" Gohan asked the panting dragon struggling to stay in the air. "Here, take this." He dug his hand into the brown sack and threw a senzu bean into the dragon's mouth. Icarus' eyes shot open and his entire body tensed, the dragon let out a loud squawk and shot forward at speeds he had never reached before. "Woah, Icarus you're so fast!" Gohan shouted excitedly, completely unaware that the dragon was now detectable on the squadron's scouters. He gasped in surprise as a large blast came towards them. Gohan grabbed the dragon's horns and pulled up, forcing the dragon to veer away from the energy.

"Haha, looks we've found you, dirty primate!" Doore laughed, floating in Gohan's path.

"Quick, Icarus get us out of here!" The dragon dived underneath Doore and sped off and barely dodged Neiz who seemingly appeared from nowhere.

"You are going nowhere, monkey." Salza spat, ripping Gohan away from his perch on Icarus' back.

"Icarus, get out of here! Get back to the other's!" Gohan yelled as Salza hammered a fist into his side causing the boy to yell out in pain. Icarus shook his head and chirped in defiance. Gohan looked to his left and saw Neiz raise a hand in the dragon's direction. "ICARUS, GET OUT HERE _NOW_!" Gohan screamed in 50% worry and 50% pain. The dragon looked over at Neiz and looked back to Gohan with sadness in his eyes. The dragon turned around and sped off as fast as he could to find the group.

"Hehe, who's going to save you now, boy?" Salza cackled and threw Gohan into the air, kicking him up to Neiz who cupped his hands together and smashed Gohan towards Doore who caught him by his head.

"Hey, kid. What do ya got there?" Doore grumbled trying to loosen Gohan's grip on the brown sack. The Saiyan boy didn't give any sign of release to the green man, "Fine you little shit, be like that!" Doore yelled squeezing Gohan's head tighter, "I call this my Can-Opener Attack, haha!" Doore chortled, slowly crushing the boy's skull. Gohan's eyes went wide, his body began to go limp, until he heard the green brute scream in his ear. He looked down and saw two golden beams, one spiraling around the other and both emitting a faint purple glow, tearing straight through Doore's shin. He took the opportunity and kicked the long haired man in the chest and jumped away.

Gohan easily forgotten, Doore turned around and screamed at the air, "Who the hell did that?" He was gasping in pain at the hole that had been torn through his leg.

"That would be me." A familiar voice called from up in the air. Piccolo stood up in the air, with his cape flapping in the wind, a hard glare being sent towards the Beppan soldier.

"You filthy slug! I'm going to blast you back to Namek!" Doore screamed. Neiz floated behind his comrade and tapped on his shoulder.

"Uh, Doore. Frieza destroyed Namek." He whispered. Doore frowned.

"No matter! Prepare to die, Namek!" The hulking warrior charged Piccolo and threw a fist towards the Namekian warrior. However; all he struck was the fabric of Piccolo's cloak as his fist tore straight through it. Doore shook the cape off of his fist in anger, "Where are you, you slimy trash? I'm going to murder you!" Doore shouted at the air.

"You must be the stupid one." Piccolo rationalized as he set his turban on Doore's head, causing the Beppan warrior to spiral towards the ground from the sheer weight. He sped towards Neiz and smashed his fist across the Zaltian's face. "Get those beans to your father, Gohan!" Piccolo shouted as he effortlessly dodged the punches and chops that Neiz was delivering. Gohan nodded and flew off. Doore was quick to recover though, and flew up from the ground heading straight for the small warrior. Before Piccolo could turn around to try and save Gohan, Salza connected the back of his hand with the green warrior's face. Piccolo was forced to keep on in battle with the other two, hoping Gohan could outfly the brutish warrior. His worries went astray as he felt another familiar energy signature incoming.

A fist slammed into the Beppan's stomach, cracking the body armor and causing the shards to stick into his stomach. "Oh, what the hell is it _this_ time?" Doore complained, coughing up blood in the process.

"Hey Gohan get going, I can handle this guy." The three eyed warrior spoke in a gravelly voice. Gohan smiled brightly and took off once again.

"Thank you, Mister Tien!" Gohan shouted back as he crossed the horizon.

"And who are you? Some pathetic mutation from this planet?" Doore asked, laughing at his 'cleverness'.

"Me? I'm your end. KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!"

* * *

 **Alright guys, thanks for reading as always! Next chapter, finishing off Tien and Piccolo vs. Cooler's armored squadron. If you're waiting for Cooler vs. Goku, don't worry, It's coming soon.**


	7. Piccolo and Tien vs The Armored Squadron

**Chapter 7: Piccolo and Tien vs. The Armored Squadron**

 _"And who are you? Some pathetic mutation from this planet?" Doore asked, laughing at his 'cleverness'._

 _"Me? I'm your end. KAIOKEN TIMES THREE!"_

A fiery crimson aura exploded from Tien's body. Doore growled at Tien and stared at him in annoyance. "Kylo what? You think some dumb red aura will help?" He scowled, having ceased his laughing.

"I'd tell you to read the scouter you have, but I'm not sure you can even read." Tien glared and shot forward like a bullet. He planted a foot into the center of Doore's stomach, leaving the Beppan gasping for breath, eyes bulged in bewilderment.

"But, t-this isn't…you can't…" But before he could finish his disoriented thought, a fist crashed into his face, shattering his nose. He started flying through the air like a clumsily thrown football. After a few seconds of spinning he managed to stop and release an angry shout, "You'll pay for that you triclops freak!" Doore blindly charged the three eyed warrior, which was only met by another crimson covered fist cracking his jaw.

"I understand why you wear the helmet." Tien belittled the dark green warrior. Doore shouted once again, in pain this time around. He held his hand to his face, grunting in pain as a light blue liquid spilled between his fingers. While he was distracting himself Tien swung himself around, spin kicking Doore in the torso. More blood spurted from Doore's hand as he managed to keep it over his face. Tien held one finger up in the air and started to collect golden energy around it. "DODON RAY!" He yelled, snapping his arm forward releasing a thin beam of golden energy. The assassination technique pierced straight through center and a bit to the left of Doore's chest. He sighed in content when the warrior went ridged after the attack.

"HAHAHA! Did you think that that was where my heart was? You stupid earthling!" Doore suddenly burst out, eyes snapping open. "True enough for most species! But my race adapted out of having hearts, a certain chemical in our environment put too much strain on them! I have a system of many smaller arteries that pump blood through my body!" Doore kept laughing.

 _The kaioken is too much of a strain on my body, I'll need to distract him while I recover some power…_ Tien scowled and looked over at the warrior, "Oh and what's this chemical?" Doore let out a wicked grin.

"I'm glad you asked, earthling." While Doore began his explanation Tien released the kaioken, hoping the green warrior wouldn't notice. "It's what my planet's atmosphere is mostly composed of, keeping senses and strength heightened." The warrior looked over at Tien in amusement, taking no notice to the absence of his crimson aura, "It's also probably the reason Lord Cooler hasn't destroyed our planet, it's actually an important ingredient in those healing chambers the Planet Trade Organization uses so often." Tien glared, not having gone to Namek he didn't even know of the PTO, "You know, I guess it _would_ be easier just to show you." Tien's eyes snapped open now, his muscles tensing. Doore removed two syringes from underneath the shoulder blade of his armor, both filled with a glowing blue substance, "This is some of the medicine from those chambers…you see this isn't my natural form, this is just what I look like when I'm not exposed to my planet's atmosphere." Tien raised his defense.

"Oh shit, this can't be good." Tien muttered under his breath. In one swift moment Doore spun the syringes around in his hands, crossed his arms and injected a syringe into each arm. He dropped the syringes which soared to the ground below, shattering. Doore let loose a bestial roar and threw his head back, the mangled black hair on his head growing longer and bushier. Hair started to grow out of his forearms and razor sharp claws ripped through his gloves while his canines elongated. All of his muscles bulged outwards, shattering his chest plate where even more thick black hair had started to sprout. His eyes rolled back in his head and it finally seemed as if the metamorphosis had come to an end. The Beppan warrior grabbed the scouter from his face and crushed it in his hand.

"I'm gonna wreck you, motherfucker!"

* * *

Piccolo smirked as he weaved between the other two members of the armored squadron with ease, but faltered as he felt Doore's power double. The purple clad warrior had started to become sick of transformations from the moment he'd been wished onto to Namek. This short span of inattention was all Salza needed as he caught Piccolo's face with his fist. The Namekian's smirk returned as he felt Tien's crimson aura return at an even greater intensity and clash against the brutish warrior.

"Nice shot, pretty boy, how about I return the favor?" Piccolo grinned as his fist shot forward and connected with the Brench warrior's right eye. He could hear the bone around the ocular organ crack and the eye itself began to puff up, bruised to the point where he couldn't see.

"Agh, you've ruined my beautiful face, you'll pay for that you slimy cretin!" The blue skinned warrior screeched as he charged back at Piccolo. Piccolo snorted, knowing well enough that anger only made one's attacks more inaccurate and erroneous.

"So what's up with your dumb friend over there?" Piccolo asked offhandedly, smashing his elbow into Salza's cranium, hurtling the blonde warrior into a nearby tree.

"Hmph, Doore always did say he had a certain trick up his sleeve." Neiz explained while his comrade recovered, "But he never actually revealed what it was, there aren't many warriors out there that are actually stronger than us afterall!" The tall brown-red warrior cackled as he continued to swing at Piccolo, catching only the air.

"Well if you wanted to stick with believing you guys are the strongest out there, maybe you shouldn't have come to Earth." Piccolo said smoothly as he landed a punch directly in the center of the Zaltian's throat, Neiz throwing his hands to the spot and gasping for breath making hacking noises, "Because it just so happens to have a penchant for breeding strong warriors." Piccolo finished as he kicked Neiz into Salza's flight path causing them both to tumble out of the air. But soon the duo recovered and they flew up to either side of the Namekian warrior.

"I'm getting zick of this, how about you Neiz?" Salza spat out a wad of blood, looking over to see his comrade nodding slowly, "Good. Armored Squadron Attack Combo Number 8!" Salza yelled and dashed forward and swung a clumsy fist at Piccolo, who easily dodged it. The blue skinned warrior smirked and Piccolo scowled. _Shit, it was a faint! How did I not see that?! These guys must have practiced this before…_ Piccolo mentally growled as Salza's fist passed harmlessly by Piccolo's fast. Salza slightly turned his angle and hammered his elbow backwards, cracking against Piccolo's face, disorienting the Namekian warrior. Neiz shot forward and drove both fists into Piccolo's stomach, causing him to gasp out.

"Peek-a-boo!" Neiz laughed, standing directly in front of Piccolo. Piccolo swung his own clumsy fist this time, though the clumsiness wasn't quite on purpose. Neiz pulled his head into his body to avoid the fist connecting with his face.

"I, w-what?" Piccolo gasped, before he could really connect the thoughts Salza's fists slammed into the top of Piccolo's head, sending him plummeting down. Neiz swooped down and caught the Namekian with one hand by the front of his gi.

"Neiz, you take care of him! I'm going to go after the boy!" Salza commanded and zipped off into the forest. Neiz turned his attention to the dazed warrior in his clutches.

"Haha! I've always wondered what fried Namek tastes like! Feel my bind wave, slug!" Neiz laughed as he shot pink electricity from the hand he held Piccolo in and threw him back out into the air. Piccolo was upheld in the air by the pink electrical binding, writhing in pain. But Neiz didn't notice the smirk on the Namekian's face. Piccolo had only been dazed by their attacks after all, he was still stronger than the Zaltian and this wouldn't be bringing him down.

"Hyah!" Piccolo thrusted his arms outwards and the pink electricity followed them, connecting to their original caster instead. Neiz screamed a guttural cry and his blackened, burnt body dropped the ground. "That takes care of that one."

* * *

"Oh, shit!" Tien cried out as he just barely dodged the brutish Doore's charged. The green skinned soldier's power had doubled or more, and he seemed all but ready to rip Tien's head from his shoulders. _Sorry King Kai, I know you told us we shouldn't take it past two or three times normal strength…but hey, Goku could do it couldn't he?_

"KAIOKEN" Tien grunted in effort, "TIMES FOUR" Tien screamed as his fiery red aura exploded outwards, and he met the green warrior in the air as they charged, sending a loud boom outward.

"Nice try earthling! But your little power-up won't save you this time!" Doore cackled in a strange, snarling voice.

"We'll just see about that!" Tien yelled, flipping over Doore and kicking him in the back, then flipping back around whilst the warrior began to fly and kneeing him in the chest. Doore readjusted himself and snarled at the triclops.

"You can't be this strong, you weren't even this strong the last time you used that technique!" Doore screamed, whipping his head around and releasing a yellow energy blast from his mouth. Tien jumped to the right and the attack barely nicked his side, searing the flesh.

"Agh!" Tien grunted in pain and flew back forwards, "Newsflash, the number four is higher than the number three." He punched Doore across the face, kicking his flying body up into the air. Suddenly Piccolo flew past Tien.

"Tien, I'm going after the blue one, can you handle this guy?" Piccolo asked quickly, Tien nodded in affirmation and Piccolo flew off once. Tien found himself face first in the side of a cliff seconds later.

"Worry less about your green friend and focus on me!" Doore laughed, repeatedly slamming Tien's head into the side of the cliff. He started flying down, the triclops still in hand, dragging his face through the rock formation. "Where's your Cilo Ren now?" Doore asked as he wrenched Tien's head from the rock and shoved a fist into his stomach. Tien coughed up blood which splattered on the Beppan's face, causing the green warrior to grin. This was what Cooler's army, his race even, was bred for. The destruction and humiliation of weaker beings. Doore no longer realized what he was doing, blindly beating the earthman now, an animalistic grin plastered on his face. He laughed cruelly feeling the blood splatter all over him. But unfortunately for him, it was too late by the time he had realized it was his own blood, light blue splatters in his hair.

"Missing this?" Tien spat as he tossed Doore's severed hand towards the soldier. It clunked against his head and dropped to the earth. Doore slowly looked down towards his right arm, horror spreading across his face when only a bloody stump was found.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT, I'LL END YOU NOW!" Doore screamed and began to charge Tien once again.

"Doubtful, KAIOKEN TIMES FIVE" Tien yelled in pain as his power increased farther. Tien slipped underneath Doore's grab and forced his hand straight through the Beppan's chest, Doore coughing up copious amounts of blood, some splatting on Tien. The three eyed warrior ripped his hand free causing Doore to scream in pain. Tien jumped back some ten feet and touched his fingers together in a triangular formation. "TRI-BEAM, HA!" The beam shot at incredible speeds towards the frightened warrior.

"WAIT, NO, PLE-" Doore's pleas were drowned out in the display of light, disappearing to show no remnants of the Beppan left.

"Wooh, I really need to practice more with Kaioken times five." Tien gasped, slowly hovering back down towards the ground and landing on his knees, panting in exhaustion.

"Hmm, too bad about Doore. I had higher expectations for that little transformation of his, too bad, but well done in defeating him warrior! Too bad, your luck ends here." All three of Tien's eyes shot open in fear as he felt an even stronger opponent appear behind him, as if he'd come from nowhere. A purple energy beam sizzled through his right shoulder.

"Oh, shit." Tien muttered, falling to the ground unconscious.

* * *

"Just give up, Namekian!" Salza yelled, avoiding Piccolo's enrgy blasts and swerving in between trees, throwing his own, "You'll never be able to defeat Lord Cooler!" Salza ducked, another energy blast zooming over his head.

"Not a chance in hell! Which is where I'm about to send you!" Piccolo shouted, extending his arm outwards and grabbing Salza by the ankle.

"Gah, zince when can Namekian's do _that_?" Salza screeched, being slammed face first into the trunk of a tree.

"I usually forget about it too." Piccolo admitted as he broke the tree against Salza's face, splinters now sticking out of the Brench warrior's face.

"Bah, look at what you've done to me! I can never show my face again!" Salza cried out, clenching his once beautiful face. Both of Piccolo's arms extended outwards and slammed Salza against another tree.

"You won't have to!" Piccolo grunted shoving an energy blast into Salza's face, the blue warrior screeching in pain.

"That's it Namekian! This one can cut through anything, tazte my Salza Bladez!" A thin pink energy blade emerged from each of Salza's hands, he immediately went for a cross slice at Piccolo's chest. The Namekian jumped out of the way just in time, the blades missing his skin but cutting an x shape into the front of his gi.

"That sounds extremely conceited." Piccolo snorted. The right blade nicking his face, purple blood leaking from the wound.

"No one asked you, slug!" Salza spit in the Namekian's face, cutting across his right leg.

"You're more agile than I thought." Piccolo admitted, it becoming increasingly harder to dodge Salza's attacks.

"And you are even more stubborn and resilient than I originally believed!" Salza scowled and spun around, with precise skill he removed both of Piccolo's arms from the elbow down. "What are you going to do with your armz?" Salza laughed, Piccolo grunted in pain.

"I guess you don't know much about Namekians at all." Piccolo grinned and shot a sudden blast from his mouth, searing Salza's face and hair once again. He yelled and arms shout out of the stumps where the original ones had been. While Salza was still in a daze Piccolo grabbed both of Salza's arms just beneath where the blades began. He forced both blades into the Brench's midsection, cutting his stomach open and burning his own internal organs.

"I-I will g-get you for this, N-namekian…" Salza looked down at his own stomach, the bloody burnt mess that had become his innards. His Salza Blades disappeared and Piccolo released his arms. Salza hovered for a few more seconds, hissing as he touched a hand over his stomach. Then as if the planet's gravity had only just kicked in, he dropped towards the earth like a stone.

"Alright, so those guys are taken care of. I need to go find Gohan." Piccolo began to fly in the direction of his pupil's energy signature.

"So Salza has gone down as well? Tsk, tsk, very disappointing, I guess I'll be finding that Saiyan on my own now." A disappointed voice resounded from behind Piccolo.

"What?" Piccolo turned around to confront the new enemy, only for an energy beam to tear through his chest. He could only make out a shadowy figure outlined by the sun's light. "No way, you're dead…"

* * *

Icarus landed down on the ground just in front of the cave the fighters had been hiding in, "Krillin, Yamcha I got the senzus!" Gohan yelled as he jumped off of Icarus and scampered into the cave, tripping a few times.

"Good job, Gohan!" Krillin laughed as Gohan fell into the cave.

"You weren't caught were you?" Yamcha asked worriedly, both he and Krillin had been worried when they had sensed Gohan be confronted by all three of the armored squadron.

"Well, yeah actually I was… but then Mister Piccolo and Tien showed up, I'm sure they took care of those mean guys!" Gohan laughed as he began to open the brown bag to give his father a senzu bean. They all gaped in horror as the bag erupted in fire, Gohan dropped the bag quickly and could only stare as their only hope burned to cinders right in front of them.

"Yes, your friends did indeed take out my soldiers, I'm not too happy about it in fact." Cooler spat as he threw Tien and Piccolo's bloodied and beaten bodies into the cave in front of the other Z Fighters.

"T-they were right there; we were so close! And Piccolo and Tien, damn you!" Krillin yelled as he shot forwards and attempted to tackle the Arcosian prince. The effect was basically as if a normal human had attempted to jump through a brick wall. Cooler sneered and tossed Krillin into the dirt, walking over to humiliate him to a greater extent.

"Krillin, no!" Yamcha shouted, bursting from the cave as well, kicking Cooler in the side of the head.

"You earthlings are so amusing." Cooler drawled as he grabbed Yamcha by the leg and threw him at Krillin.

"Oh, no…what are we gonna do?" Gohan asked helplessly as he watched his friends get beaten into the dirt. _Here Gohan, take this._ Gohan's thoughts flashed back to when he'd left Korin's tower. _The extra senzu bean, of course! Where'd I put it?!_ Gohan thougt frantically while he patted his own body. He pulled the senzu from his gi's belt and walked over to his father. "Here dad, eat this!" Gohan murmured as he fed Goku the senzu bean.

"Gohan, but the beans burned, where'd you…" Goku murmured as he began to chew the bean.

"No time to explain, just eat it!" Goku nodded as he finished eating the bean and stood up flexing his arms, fully recovered. Quickly, Goku shot out of the cave and slammed Cooler into the ground. Cooler kicked Goku off of him and stood up, dusting himself off.

"There's the monkey! Back for round two?" Cooler smirked at the angry Saiyan.

"Krillin, Yamcha, get Piccolo and Tien out of here. You and Icarus go too Gohan!" The two human warriors nodded, grabbing their friends and beginning to fly off, while Gohan jumped on Icarus as they began to fly away. Cooler snorted and tossed an energy blast in the retreating fighter's direction, only to be batted back at him by Goku, "Your fight is with me Cooler! KAIOKEN TIMES TEN!"

* * *

 **As always, thanks for reading guys! If you hadn't guessed, Cooler vs. Goku is upcoming next chapter. Sorry if these chapters are short, I seem to have a problem with writing past 4,000 words.**

 **To reviewer SierraLarson, I'm glad to see that you're glad to see this story. I guess it isn't necessary to do the Cooler movie you're right, and it was pretty much the same as the movie until last chapter. But this is where I was making it different. You're right that the main point of this story is that M. Gohan survived, and that's exactly that. The whole for want of a nail/domino effect. Since Gohan survived things are beginning to change in the timeline, and I'm beginning to show that here. As well as I kind of have to do Cooler because of stuff I'll be doing later in the movie, plus I'm sure some people had wanted it.**

 **Keep on readin' and reviewin' my friends, until next time!**


	8. Fall of an Empire

**Chapter 8: Fall of an Empire**

 _"There's the monkey! Back for round two?" Cooler smirked at the angry Saiyan._

 _"Krillin, Yamcha, get Piccolo and Tien out of here. You and Icarus go too Gohan!" The two human warriors nodded, grabbing their friends and beginning to fly off, while Gohan jumped on Icarus as they began to fly away. Cooler snorted and tossed an energy blast in the retreating fighter's direction, only to be batted back at him by Goku, "Your fight is with me Cooler! KAIOKEN TIMES TEN!"_

"Oh?" Cooler smirked, swiftly dodging the energy blast returned to him, causing it to strike the water and erupt in a large geyser. "Would that be the same technique your three eyed friend used to take down Doore?" Cooler asked, feigning interest.

"Door what? Wait, Tien knows the kaioken too? Man he must've learned more than I thought while he was dead!" Goku laughed scratching the back of his head. Cooler subsequently blinked a few times after Goku's statement.

"Excuse me, dead?" Cooler attempted to ask. The only answer, however; being Goku's fist connecting with the Arcosian's face and hurling him away in his moment of confusion. "Well it would seem that you are certainly more efficient with this little _power-up_ than your friend." Cooler suppressed the urge to chuckle, "But what you're seeing here up until now is only say, oh, around maybe five percent of my power? Which would have been enough to beat you if you hadn't powered up." Cooler grunted and clenched his fist and grunted, tightening his muscles releasing an outpour of energy. "But it seems you wanted to make things difficult for me. This is around fifty percent of my power, are you still ready to take me on?" Goku only grinned brightly as he entered a fighting stance.

"Yeah, Frieza had that whole power suppression thing in his fourth form, I guess it'd make sense for you to have it. Does that make this your fourth form too?" Goku asked, already lost in fighting, trying to analyze his enemy.

"You would be correct in assuming so and by 'fourth form' I assume you meant our race's natural form?" Cooler asked, flicking his tail back and forth.

"Uh yeah, I think Frieza said something about that too. But enough with that…" Goku grinned and shot forwards, "Let's go!" Goku's fist smashed across Cooler's face, forcing his head to whip to the side. Cooler sneered and brought his knee upwards to meet Goku's stomach, leaving the enthusiastic Saiyan gasping for air. Cooler then put his hands on Goku's head, spun around to where he was above him and slammed both feet into the warrior's back. A death beam was sent towards the warrior's spinning form. Any lower warriors would have thought the beam to have just missed, shooting through the air as Goku's body spun around. But Cooler could see Goku's subtle body shifts as he placed himself in correct position to spiral upwards and plant both fists in Cooler's stomach.

"Well, I'll say, you fight pretty well for a monkey…" Cooler batted Goku aside with the back of his hand, "But I think I'll finish you off now, you _are_ quite annoying" Cooler grunted and his muscles expanded slightly, showing veins bulging from his face, "This is my full power, how do you feel now Saiyan?" Cooler smirked. Goku nodded and shrugged his shoulders.

"That's pretty impressive alright, but you're still not even as strong as Fri-" Goku was cut off as Cooler fist rocketed into the center of his face, him unable to dodge it with only the boost of a Kaioken times ten, "Ah, shoot! Man, my schnozz!" Goku clutched his nose as blood poured through his fingers.

"Don't you dare compare me to my filthy cretin of a brother!" Cooler grabbed Goku's shirt and hammered blows into his stomach, "Too long! Too long that swine had the edge over me! He had the higher power! Father's favor! More control over the galaxy!" He threw Goku through a nearby boulder, "Well guess what, simian trash?! I'm the strongest now! The universe is mine for the taking, and I'll start my reign by destroying the one thing my brother couldn't, you!" Cooler ripped Goku from the small crater he'd created, holding a dense energy ball to his stomach, much intent on frying the Saiyan's internal organs.

"Ha, all you sound like to me…is a spoiled brat…who was never taught any manners! Just like your brother…" Cooler's eyes hardened, but before he could even swing his fist Goku clenched his, "KAIOKEN TIMES TWENTY!" He yelled, the fiery aura bursting to the brightest intensity that had been managed by the technique thus far. The flaming Saiyan locked on the pissed-off-loooking Arcosian and the engaged once again. Goku's blurring fists in the kaioken aura reminiscent of a wild, shifting fire. Cooler met his strike every match of the way, but could do no more.

 _Dammit! How is this Saiyan fighting on even terms with me? I should be the most powerful! Maybe, should I?...No, not yet, I can still take him down._ Cooler managed to momentarily slip inside Goku's guard and struck his collar bone. Cooler had momentarily dropped his guard as well without realizing it and Goku had landed a solid hit to his chest, they both broke away and jumped back.

"Damn you! Since when were Saiyans able to grow this strong? Before you the strongest Saiyan I had even heard of hadn't a power level of 20,000!" Cooler was frustrated, never in his life had someone been able to match his family's power. But this Saiyan was matching him with the full power of his natural form. _Wait, there was a legend of a powerful Saiyan passed throughout our family. The one that brought down our ancestor Chilled's reign, a powerful Saiyan warrior…this couldn't possibly be, a Super Saiyan?_ Cooler escaped his thoughts just in time to throw up a cross block defending himself from Goku's fist.

"Oh you mean Vegeta? Yeah he's gotten stronger too but I don't think he'd be able to take you on." Goku moved his head to the left and caught Cooler's fist, throwing him over his shoulder. "Speaking a' Vegeta, I wonder how he's doin'. He went into space to train and all, I haven't seen him in a while." Cooler turned during mid-throw and kicked Goku in the back.

"Don't ramble on in front of me, fool!" Cooler flew forwards and caught the Saiyan, burning a ki blast into his back, "I care not of your monkeys' pathetic personal lives, you'll all be dead soon." Cooler curled his arm around Goku's neck, cutting off his air supply, "Yes, obviously I'll kill you first, then this so called 'Vegeta' maybe I'll even take down those little _future Saiyans_." Cooler felt an average sized power level coming towards him, "And oh yes, the boy too of course, maybe I'll kill _him_ first, and make you watch." Goku's eyes went wild and he formed two ki blasts in his hands, slamming them into Cooler's sides and forcing him to release his hold.

"You will _not_ touch my son." Goku growled and punched Cooler in the face and releasing a flurry of unrelenting blows _Gohan, get back! I can take this guy on my own!_

 _B-but dad! I can-_ Gohan spoke back in his head, wanting to help his father.

 _NO! Gohan, this isn't something you can handle yet. I've got it, you know this isn't close to my max strength._

 _Y-yeah, be safe dad! Please, be alright!_ Goku sighed in relief as he felt Gohan's ki signature recede and grow farther away.

"You know what Saiyan. You might be a worthy adversary, maybe I _will_ show you my full power." Cooler smirked.

"But, you said this was your full power?" Goku asked confused as he backed away from the Arcosian Prince, defenses raised.

"Yes, that is indeed what I said, and it was true. For this form anyways." Cooler breathed out a calm breath, "But you see, I've discovered something even my father and brother couldn't. Something hidden back in the recesses of our DNA. A transformation if you will." Cooler flexed his muscles and grunted, his power raising dramatically.

"Oh, one of those, why do you guys have so _many_ of those?" Goku complained. The bone like armor of the Arcosian race began to grow around the backside of Cooler's head, and four spike-like protrusions grew from the front of his head, surrounding his bio-gem. The bone protrusions grew and raised farther from his shoulders. Two spike curved like fins from his arms and bio-gems protruded from either side of the bone guards on his shins and forearms. His muscles bulked up much more than they had for his full powered fourth form. Suddenly the red of his eyes expanded, filling the entire socket, emitting an eerie crimson glow. To top it all off a vented mask shot up and covered his face.

"So, _now_ what do you think, Saiyan?" Cooler growled, rotating his wrists.

"Yeah, that's sure scary looking alright" Goku gulped as Cooler grabbed him and drove him straight through a mountain and slammed him straight into the ground.

"Still weaker than my brother?" Cooler laughed pulling Goku from the rubble, and hurling him back into the wrecked mountain.

"Hah, no I guess not…" Goku spat a wad of blood out of his mouth, "But you're still not as strong as your father, either." Cooler didn't show any visible anger towards the remark.

"To be presumed, I assume you'd have seen my father's full power then?" Cooler kicked Goku in the stomach, "That's something he had not even shown my brother and I." He looked to his left and spotted a nest of birds chirping in terror. Cooler picked Goku once again and threw him to the nest, hurling a ball of energy after him.

Goku found himself half-covered in rubble, he had taken the brunt of the fall and hurled the nest away so the baby birds would be safe. He opened his eyes to see one small bird, the mother, with a broken wing and its life force slowly draining. Goku frowned and dragged himself from underneath the rubble and cupped the small animal within his hands. A golden glow surrounded his hands as he rose from his knees, pouring his energy into the creature. He released the bird, which now flew away in full health.

"No more, Cooler. You had a hidden transformation for your race, well so do I." Cooler's face faltered _He couldn't mean?_

"Ah, yes. You Saiyans can transform into even larger and hairier monkeys can't you? But as I can see you don't have a tail, and this planet has no moon" Cooler covered up, quickly remembering the form his brother had laughed about once he first seized control of the Saiyan race.

"You know that's not what I mean. Your brother seemed so afraid of it, I'm sure you've heard of the legend of the Super Saiyan." Cooler's eyes widened and he backed away.

"No, that's just a story mother told us to keep us in line…" Goku tightened his muscles and let out a quick shout, his hair shooting into the air and emitting a familiar golden glow. "No matter! I will still crush you monkey, I won't let you humiliate me!" Cooler swung his fist, Goku tilting his head back so it swept past him. Goku kicked upwards towards Cooler's chin, him replicating the same action to dodge it, until Goku shifted himself forwards and brought his leg down, cracking the gem on Cooler's forehead. "Yes, I definitely see how you able to combat my brother, but you won't defeat me!" Cooler swept Goku's legs from under him and delivered a kick to his stomach. Goku grabbed his leg while it was resting in the Saiyan's stomach and began to spin him around, releasing him causing the transformed Arcosian to fly back into the rut he'd originally dragged Goku through.

"Your family is all the same, Cooler! You all just can't stand to find out that there's someone out there that could possibly be stronger than you!" Goku's fist pounded into Cooler's chest, cracking his external body armor. He grabbed Cooler by the wrists and chucked him into the air, cupping his hands towards his side. "KAME" The familiar blue glow formed in his hands.

 _Oh, this will be fun._ Cooler internally chuckled.

"HAME" Goku intensified the glow, "HAAAAAAAA" His arms shot forward shooting the cerulean beam at the Arcosian prince, completely swallowing him. For a split second, Goku had thought it was over, but he saw a dark figure overtake the blue glow of the Kamehameha wave.

"Nice try, trash!" Cooler laughed as he burst from the energy wave and slammed Goku farther into the mountain side.

"Maybe I should've put more energy into that…" Goku coughed as he felt one or more of his ribs crack.

"Yes maybe indeed." Cooler laughed as he threw Goku out of the other side of the mountain.

"Your efforts are indeed noteworthy, but now it's time to end you." Cooler slowly flew towards Goku.

"No! You won't terrorize anyone anymore!" Goku stood up and pushed out whatever power he had left, crashing into Cooler head on and causing them both to spiral into the ground.

"Get off of me!" Cooler growled and kicked Goku back into the air. He quickly shot up into the air while Goku was readjusting himself and raised his hands towards the sky. Goku looked up in horror to find a Supernova attack already formed above Cooler's raised hands. "Did Frieza ever try this one?" Cooler scowled, determined to win against his brother even in the younger Arcosian's passing.

"Uh, yeah I think. But his wasn't that large, and he definitely couldn't form it that fast." Cooler smirked at the comment.

"Ah yes, I _was_ always much more efficient at gathering energy. It angered him so, the one thing he could never best me at," Cooler glanced down at the Saiyan, "Enough of that now. Prepare to die." Cooler launched his arms downwards, the sun coming in fast. It seemed to have crushed Goku, and began to sink into the ground.

"Not…yet!" Goku shouted, he pushed upwards and shot the fiery ball of death right back towards its creator. Unsuspecting, Cooler was caught in the wrath of his own attack as it consumed him. Once the energy dissipated, Cooler was revealed to still be hanging in the air, covered in scorch marks and anger evident in his eyes. His mask had cracked and fallen away to show Cooler bearing his fangs, fully intent on destroying this foe.

"Well, it seems we've both been through much. I'm sure you've expended much of your energy as well, especially to make sure you weren't utterly obliterated by the supernova I threw at you," Cooler's eyes began to glow purple, "But now I'll d- Agh!" Cooler's Death Beam attack was interrupted as a Kamehameha crashed into his back. He turned around in fast motion and released a kiai towards the attacker.

"Ah, when in the hell did that happen?" Yamcha asked, startled after observing Cooler's new form. He tumbled away from the invisible force along with Krillin who had accompanied him.

"Oh? So the pathetic Earthling trash has made their return? I'll make a quick example of you two before I destroy the Saiyan." Cooler made an advance on them and threw Yamcha at the mountain, making yet another hole.

"Krillin, what are you doing here?! You know you can't take him on!" Goku yelled as Yamcha flew back out of his hole and released a flurry of blows only to be smacked away again.

"Heh, that's never stopped us before, now has it?" Krillin laughed, while Cooler broke his collar bone.

"Speak for yourself, I didn't even wanna' come," Yamcha complained as he climbed out of his crater.

"Shut up, Yamcha! We're just buying time Goku!" Krillin said as he was smacked through a tree by Cooler. Goku nodded, he knew what to do, it was a good thing Cooler didn't know how to sense energy.

"Kame…" A glowing orb formed within the confines of his hands.

"Hame…" He arced his arms back, the energy glowing brighter, growing stronger.

"HAAAA!" The earth raised Saiyan screamed as he thrust his arms forwards releasing the largest energy blast he'd ever created. It caught Cooler by surprise, but wasn't enough to overwhelm him, he slowly fought his way back through the energy, "DAMMIT!" Goku screamed at the futility of his attack.

"Don't worry dad! I've got you! KAMEHAMEHA!" Gohan appeared beside his father, unnoticed while Goku was charging his attack adding his own.

"We can do this, Goku!" Krillin added yelling the mantra himself and pouring his energy into the attack.

"Yeah, man! We won't let you down," A less excited and much more disgruntled Yamcha added, appearing on the other side of Goku, "KAIOKEN TIMES TWO" Yamcha yelled with his crimson aura shooting up and he threw his own Kamehameha into the mix. The added amount of energy did the trick as the Arcosian prince was shot off out of the atmosphere and into space. Goku and co. finally relented and released the attack, all of them collapsing in exhaustion.

"If I ever even see something that slightly resembles one of Frieza's race again I'm moving to Namek." Krillin huffed as he clutched his broken collar bone.

"Ugh, I hear you." Yamcha grumbled as he brought his shirt up to soak up the blood leaking from his forehead.

"Hopefully…that's the last we'll ever see of Frieza's family…" Goku was breathing heavily, the golden sheen of his hair fading back to its original black.

* * *

 _How could I be beaten by a_ Saiyan, _this is unbelievable!_ Cooler mentally cursed himself as he was pushed into space by the Kamehameha wave. He felt the heat of the sun pulsing on his back as he was being pushed closer and closer towards it. He reflected, back to the day his brother had obliterated planet Vegeta, planet of the Saiyans. He remembered the image of the Saiyan space pod Salza had showed him, the Saiyan baby flying off with the black palm tree-like hair. His memories reverted to not even an hour ago, the same hair that the Saiyan that had defeated him had. _It was him! That was the same Saiyan I let live that day, this, this is all on me!_ Cooler came to a final realization as he crashed into the sun, burning his body to cinders.

* * *

Goku trudged through the door of his home, little Gohan sitting on his shoulders, "Hey, Chi Chi, we're home…" Goku laughed as he fell flat on his face after entering the doorway, Gohan collapsing on the older Saiyan's back. Chi Chi put a hand over her mouth, gasping.

"Goku! What type of camping trip _was_ this?" She asked in anger, picking her son up off of her husband's back.

"Nah, it's cool mom…learned a lot about flora 'n fauna and evil space tyrants." Gohan murmured as he fell asleep in his mother's arms.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

 **Aaaannd that wraps up the Cooler saga-ish, thing. Next up comes the androids! Don't worry all, the return of Future Gohan and Trunks is not too far off.**

 **Jack905, I hope you enjoyed the fight! And thank you amipy4u, hopefully it will be getting even** _ **more**_ **interesting soon!**

 **As for nimedhel09, my reasoning for Goku not going Super Saiyan straight away is Goku believed he could take Cooler with Kaioken, he does love a good fight after all. He resorts to going SSJ after Cooler monumentally ends up fucking up his kaioken with transformation numero cinco. There will definitely end up being more changes to canon, trust me. And though I'd believed I'd hinted at it a bit, yes there will be something between Gohan and Videl, it just might take a while for him to get back to her.**

 **Let us all hope I can pump out some chapters on a more regulated schedule!**


	9. Time Travel's a Bitch

**Sorry if this causes any confusion if you'd read it before I had it saying at the end of chapter four something like "And then they were whisked off into the streams of continuity" I had to erase this to make this chapter work correctly.**

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Time Travel's a Bitch**

 **Age 764**

"Alright Trunks, set the machine for May 12th age 767." But Trunks hesitated, probably confusing the Z-Fighters that were on-looking their departure. "Trunks? What are you doing?"

"Well Gohan, I mean, shouldn't we head back to our time, just in case it's worked?" Trunks asked timidly, fingers resting just above the controls. Gohan sighed and leaned his head back.

"And just how, Trunks, are you going to feel when we go back, and it hasn't worked?" The scarred man asked his pupil. Trunks frowned at his master and pulled his hand farther back from the control panel.

"And what if it has?" Trunks shot back, looking Gohan in the eye.

"Trunks we need to head to that time to make it an absolute certainty that they defeat the androids!" Gohan asserted.

"And we will! _If_ it hasn't worked already!" Trunks yelled, exasperated.

"You _do_ know this thing only has four uses, right?" Gohan asked.

"Of course I do! Do you know how many times mom reiterated that?" Trunks complained, "Besides that works out perfectly. We've used one, a second to get to our time, a third to get to the androids and the final to get back!" Gohan narrowed his eyes at the young man, whose determined expression remained hardened and unmoving.

"…Fine, but don't complain to me when you're disappointed." Gohan shrugged, lying back into the seat once again. Trunks nodded understandingly and tapped his fingers over the control panel, and _then_ they were whisked off into the streams of continuity.

* * *

Bulma gasped as she heard the unnatural noise that was her time machine tearing through the space-time continuity. After all, it had only been three or so hours since their departure. She had of course come to the conclusion that they would return to the same day as their departure, but the machine only really calculated within days and not hours and minutes. _But_ that was only a conclusion she had come to with a certain theory of the time machine's workings in play, the Split-Timeline Theory.

How they were hoping the time machine would work was simply working on the theory that time moved straightforward like a line. So with the time machine they would have traveled backwards on that single timeline, like a man driving in reverse down a street. So when the time machine landed it would have somewhat of an effect as plucking the string of guitar, sending vibrations throughout that single timeline that would disrupt and alter the events following. That was what Bulma had dubbed the Linear Disruption Theory.

But then of course there was the theory the lavender haired genius hoped wouldn't come into play, Split-Timeline Theory. Split-Timeline Theory was that when the time machine traversed backwards through time, it would carve straight through that original timeline, splitting it into two separate ones. One of those timelines would be unchanged, but the other would diverge at the point of arrival and there was no way of knowing how events would unfold in that newly formed timeline.

Bulma quickly bustled towards her lab, where she'd set the time machine to return to, seeing Videl sprinting down the hallway towards the same area. Gohan turned his head towards Bulma who'd hurriedly bust through the doorway, Videl arriving at the doorway just across. Trunks had a look of disdain set on his face, looking around to see relatively no changes in his surroundings.

"I-It didn't work did it?" He stuttered, looking towards the ground with his head hanging low.

"See Trunks? I told you it wouldn't work; we have to head back." Gohan scowled, a clank resounding as he set his metal hand back onto the surface of the machine.

"Gohan, I-I don't think that's exactly it." Bulma told him, stopping his attempt to hastily return to the newly formed timeline.

"What do you mean, Bulma?" Gohan asked as he released his hand from the time vessel.

"Well, you see. If we'd been going by the Linear Disruption Theory, this 'time' wouldn't exactly exist anymore. Due to the Butterfly Effect, time would have been disrupted and the events of the timeline completely changed from there. So even if the androids had won still, events would have occurred differently than they had here. We probably wouldn't even retain our memories of the original timeline's occurrences. So just by the fact that you were able to return here with no changes, well that means…" Bulma's voice dropped off, disappointment taking over.

"Split-Timeline Theory." Gohan's voice took over as he slammed his fist into a nearby table cracking it in two, "God dammit!"

"Uh, what's the Split-Timeline Theory?" Videl timidly broke the silence, bewilderment on her face.

"To make it short, when we traveled back, we created a second timeline. We can't save this timeline." Gohan sighed, placing his face within the palm of his hand.

"But we can still help save the other one!" Trunks insisted, shaking his master from his disappointed stupor. "Think about it, they'd have a much better chance at beating the androids if we helped them! And if we trained with people like Father and Goku and the others we may become strong enough to beat them here as well!" Gohan stared off into the distance for a few seconds and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right, little bro. We still have to ensure they can make it through this, our timeline or not." Gohan smiled and nodded down at his pupil, wearing the same determined expression the young man had himself earlier.

"So you guys are going back again?" Videl asked, sad to see them go again. Gohan nodded at her, still smiling.

"Yeah but don't worry, we'll be back before you can say 'we fucked up our time travel expedition'. You'll be soaring through the skies in no time." Videl smiled brightly at his words and nodded.

"Is there anything you guys need before you set out?" Bulma asked. Trunks shook his head but Gohan thought for a minute and nodded. He grabbed the bottom of his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head.

"Since revealing ourselves will no longer be detrimental to the passing of time, get me my gi." Gohan said, folding the sweatshirt, intent on tossing his current outfit in a capsule. Bulma snorted and rolled her eyes, pulling the orange and blue combination of fabric out from a cranny in her desk and tossing it to Gohan.

"Expectable." Bulma said. Gohan retreated to a back room and emerged once again donning his father's colors.

"Alright bro, let's hit the road, or ah, stream, that is to say." Gohan laughed as he and Trunks entered the time machine once again. They waved at the two woman standing outside of the machine and slowly vanished from sight.

* * *

 **Age 767, May 12** **th** **9:48 AM**

One by one the Z-Fighters had arrived upon a cliff overlooking South City. Tien having arrived first, always the early riser and not too long after Yamcha came flying in, Bulma flying in on her hover car, carrying a baby. Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin all arrived together some fifteen minutes later.

"Uh, Bulma? What are you doing here, and where'd you get the baby?" Krillin asked as he touched down on the cliff.

"It's _my_ baby you doofus, and I've been left out of all the action for far too long! I'm a valuable member of the team and I deserve to be here!" Bulma declared, turning her nose upwards. Krillin scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, yeah, okay. Who's the father then?" Krillin shifted his gaze to the scarred bandit leaning against a boulder, "Is it yours Yamcha?" Yamcha scowled and turned away.

"No, but you wouldn't believe who it is." Yamcha spat. Goku leaned down in front of the baby and smiled at him.

"It's Vegeta isn't it Trunks? Huh, is it Vegeta? Vegeta?" Goku baby talked at the infant causing him to burst into giggles and began to clap his hands. Bulma frowned and looked down at Goku quizzically.

"Goku, how did you know that?" Bulma asked confused. _Oh shoot_. Goku thought while he laughed nervously.

"Well, uh ha, it just made sense you know? Since it's not Yamcha and Vegeta _had_ been staying at Capsule Corp. right?" Goku supplied, trying to cover the mess he'd made.

"Okay, I _guess_ that makes sense. _But_ how did you know his name?" Goku grinned while his eyes darted back and forth, looking for something to say.

"Uh…your family, uh…seems to have names that have to do with…underwear?" Goku answered. Bulma looked at him skeptically.

"What?"

"Well your name sounds kinda like bloomers, and your dad's name is Briefs, and I, uh, think you told me you had a sister named Tights once, and your mom's name is something like Panty? Trunks are something you could wear as underwear, right?" Goku finished his haphazard answer, scratching the back of his head. Bulma stayed silent while everyone else eyed Goku with amusement.

 _Great going Goku, top tier cover-up right there._ Piccolo thought.

"Heyyy look, Yajirobe is coming!" Goku pointed at the hover car zooming towards their position. Yajirobe jumped out once it landed with a brown sack in his hand. Gohan snickered and looked over at the pudgy man.

"How's it going, _Bean Daddy_?" The young boy asked, Yajirobe turning his head and looking at him in horror. He threw the sack to Krillin, being the closest to him and walked over to Gohan.

"Look, kid. I'll give whatever you want as long as you never bring that up again." Yajirobe whispered into Gohan's ear, who smirked slyly and nodded. The rest of the group paid no mind, however and continued in with their conversation.

"Hey, Bulma. Where is Vegeta anyways? I can't sense him anywhere." Krillin noted the absence of the ill-tempered Saiyan warrior.

"Hell if I know, he took off in that spaceship dad built and I haven't seen him since. That arrogant asshole left me here to take care of Trunks all by myself!" Bulma exclaimed in anger.

"Awe-ole." Trunks gurgled from Bulma's arms, causing her eyes to widen in shock.

"Oh, no-no honey, we don't say that." Bulma explained down at the child.

"Hey Tien, where's Chiaotzu?" Krillin asked.

"I left him back at Roshi's, if these androids are anywhere as strong as that Cooler guy than I really don't think the little guy would be able to handle it." Tien explained, Bulma looked over at him.

"Huh? Cooler? Who's that?"

"Frieza's brother, wanted to kill Goku, we blasted him into the sun, real pain in the ass." Yamcha spoke up from his boulder.

"Frieza's brother? Why didn't you guys tell me about this?" Bulma complained, feeling left out once again.

"Well, ya didn't ask." Goku answered, finally standing up from his kneeling position in front of the baby. Bulma frowned.

"I, well, fair enough." Yajirobe snorted and walked back over to his car.

"You guys got your senzu beans, I'm leaving, you guys always get into some sort of trouble and I don't want anything to do with it." The pudgy ronin said and climbed into his car.

"Alright, bye _Yajirobe_ , make sure to remember your promise." Gohan sung as Yajirobe started his car, the man sneering back at him before flying away.

Not even after flying a mile away, an explosion sounded and Yajirobe's car spiraled into the ocean.

"What was that?!" Krillin exclaimed. Piccolo looked towards the smoke and spotted three figures standing not too far a distance away.

"It's the androids! I see them, but there's three of them, and I can't seem to sense their energy!" Piccolo explained, "Quick, Gohan! Go get Yajirobe. The rest of you, split up and go search the city, make sure to flare your energy when you find them!" Everyone nodded. Gohan jumped off the cliff and shot down towards the ocean in search of where Yajirobe may have landed. The rest of the Z-Fighters zipped off towards different locations in the city.

* * *

Piccolo scowled as he touched down on a street in South City, all of the citizens scrambling around and screaming at his appearance.

"It's a monster, Tim run man it's a monster!"

"Mommy, what _is_ that thing?"

"AH! Someone call the police!"

Piccolo grunted and turned into a back alley, keeping an eye out for any odd occurences. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

Tien landed in a back alley firsthand, not wishing to draw attention to himself by showing civilians his abilities. He walked out into the street, accidentally bumping into someone.

"Woooaaahhh man, do you like, have three eyes? Hooolllyyy shiiieeettt." Tien looked at the man he'd bumped into. He had long blonde hair and wore swim trunks and a t-shirt with a cap turned backwards on his head. At a closer look his eyes seemed to be tinted red.

"Yes in fact, I do. Now I'd advise you move along or you might end up having none." Tien spoke calmly, attempting to push past the man. A hand was lain on his shoulder as he tried to walk away.

"Yo, dude wait a secoonndd, I gotta get a picture with you man!" The shaggy haired man drawled as he pulled a smartphone from his pocket. He grabbed Tien by the shoulder and hugged the man towards himself with the phone's screen facing them, he wore a dopey look on his face as he snapped a picture but frowned at the outcome, "Awwww, c'monnn 'n' smile man!"

"I'd rather not." Tien said as he plucked the device from the man's hand and crushed it in-between his fingers. He tried to walk away again but found he was unable to escape the man's grip.

"Well, that wasn't very nice…Tienshinhan." The man spoke, his voice going from drawling and crackling to deep and chilling. Tien quickly glanced over at the man and looked at his face, no longer recognizable as it seemed to be… _shifting._

"Wha-" Tien was unable to finish as he was thrown back into the alley he'd walked out of. He began to flare his energy but before he could finish the man outstretched his fingers. They began to turn gray and fall apart, no, they weren't falling apart they were just spreading out. Microscopic robots began to spread out from his arm and cover Tien's face.

"Mmmph! Mmmph!" The man cackled at Tien's attempt to free himself.

"Night, night."

* * *

Yamcha tip toed through the streets carefully, he didn't really wish to be the one to encounter the androids. Even he knew himself that he was the weakest link to the team, even with all the training he'd done. If he had to fight the androids he'd be done for, no doubt about it.

Yamcha's head snapped to the side as he heard a loud crash followed by a scream of terror. He rushed out into the street to see a bloody mess, quite literally. Four bodies lay strewn out across the street, each missing a body part, a few of which he'd spotted scattered about the street. He felt something splat against his forehead and wiped it off with the back of his hand. He looked down at it to see a crimson red spread across his hand. He turned his gaze above him, finding a body impaled on South City's flag a few meters above him. He backed away in horror and saw a man whose head was brought straight through the roof of his car, the metal having stuck into his neck and his skull a bloody mess.

"Did, did the androids do this?" Yamcha backed away bumping into another figure.

"Why yes, in fat we did." A gravelly, weathered voice admitted from behind him. Yamcha scrambled away and turned around. On the left was a wrinkled man who sporting unkempt white hair that was even longer than Yamcha's before he'd gotten it cut along with a bushy mustache. On the right was a round…man? Who had snow white skin and wore a pointy hat atop his head, contrasting to the cylindrical one the old man sported. Both wore baggy brown and orange clothes with a vest emblazoned with a small red ribbon that had two R's on them.

"Nineteen, please identify this man for me." The old man spoke, his hands kept behind his back. The round one's eyes flashed red as he stared at Yamcha.

"Yamcha, one hundred eighty-three centimeters, sixty-eight kilograms, thirty-four years of age, Special Technique's: Wolf Fang Fist, Spirit Ball." The round android spoke in a shrill mechanical voice, the man merely nodded.

"I see, not Goku then. He is of no use; I shall proceed to exterminate him." Before Yamcha could react, the old man shot forwards at a speed he would've thought incapable of a man of such an age and held him in the air. "Last words?" Yamcha struggled to move from the man's grip, gritting his teeth.

"K-kaio-Ken!" Yamcha grunted as the scarlet aura burst from his body, but the bandit still found himself unable to break the man's grip.

"Hmph, an interesting development, Nineteen?" The old man asked, not faltering in the slightest.

"Kaio-Ken, a technique used by Goku in his battle against Saiyan Vegeta. The purpose seems to be to multiply physical attributes such as speed, strength, and endurance along with powering the user's energy. If used wrong, said to be harmful to the body. The old man nodded.

"I see, interesting, futile of course, but interesting." The old man spoke, tightening his hand around Yamcha's neck.

"TIMES TWO!" Yamcha shouted, increasing his energy output. The aura slowly vanished from Yamcha's presence, looking as if the fiery energy was being sucked into the old man's hand.

"What did I say? Futile." He spoke coldly, shoving his arm straight through Yamcha's torso in the blink of an eye. He threw Yamcha towards the ground where the man gasped and choked out, coughing up blood. He tried to raise his arms but found himself unable to move. The other warriors showed up not too long afterwards, having been signaled when Yamcha activated the Kaio-Ken.

"So I guess these guys are the androids? Where's the third one?" Goku asked as he stared at the two robotic men standing in front of him.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not one to miss out on the fun." A cold voice came from the sky. They all looked up to see a man with a surfer-esque appearance. He held Tien's body in his left arm, the three eyed man bloodied and scarred from the run-in. He threw Tien's body down on top of Yamcha's, causing the both of them to yell out in pain.

"Krillin, did you bring those senzu beans with you?" Goku asked, his eyes worriedly darting back and forth between the enemy and his wounded friends and the enemy, the surfer landing to the left of the old man.

"I-uh, left them with Bulma for safekeeping?" Krillin answered timidly, Goku looked back at him with a look that said something like _Man what the fuck?_

"Fucking hell, Krillin! Go take them up there then!" Piccolo snarled. Krillin nodded quickly and grabbed Tien and Yamcha by the back of their shirts and began to fly towards to cliff as fast as he can. The androids not caring enough to stop them.

"Three against two, huh? Those odds don't sound very nice." The surfer-looking android said, eyeing Goku and Piccolo maliciously.

"Zero, please take a more appropriate form." The old man commanded, the android they now knew was called Zero grunted.

"Yeah alright, but don't expect me to change into those same lame-ass clothes you two are wearing." Zero's form faded to a dark gray and seemed to shift around. When he was done he stood at the stature of some 5'7, taking the form of a high schooler with messy black hair and steely gray eyes. He wore jeans with a dark green tank-top and a dark gray windbreaker.

"Not much better, but I guess it will do." The old man harrumphed as he turned away from the teenage looking android. Goku and Piccolo both blinked in surprise.

"W-what did he just do?" Goku asked, amazed at the occurrence. Zero smirked and looked at Goku in amusement.

"I suppose I could explain that. You see I was a project our creator had been working on since he began this whole _android_ business. That's why I'm called Zero, fatso over there is Nineteen, and wrinkles to my right is the last on the line, Twenty. I'm made from nanobots, small microscopic robots that can each function on their own and allow me to take any form I want, took the guy years to get it right." Zero explained.

"Okay, nanobots, sounds like something Gohan would know about, but okay." Goku nodded.

"So, Son Goku, would you like to be exterminated here, or do you want to take this elsewhere?" Android Twenty spoke calmly.

"Uh, we should probably not fight here, you guys are gonna' wreck the city." Goku explained, Twenty nodded and looked over at Nineteen.

"Nineteen, please take us to the nearest wasteland." Nineteen nodded as his eyes flashed red and he floated up into the air and took off, everyone else following suit.

* * *

"Bulma! Give me those senzu beans, quick!" Krillin shouted as he flew up to the cliffside where Gohan, Yajirobe, and Bulma were standing. He quickly laid Yamcha and Tien down, scrambling over to Bulma and snatching the brown sack out of her hand.

"Oh dear lord, what happened?!" Bulma exclaimed, gasping at the conditions of Yamcha and Tien's bodies. Tien had a needle shoved through his third eye with long bloody cuts covering his torso. Yamcha was lying next to him and his abdomen looked twisted and mangled from where Twenty had shoved his hand through his stomach.

"We found the androids" Krillin grimaced, popping a senzu bean into the warriors' mouths. The needle fell to the ground as it was pushed out of Tien's now healed eye, the scars on his body faded away, aside from the one left by Mercenary Tao all those years ago. Yamcha's flesh seemed to morph back together and set into a normal state.

"Oh man, those androids are the real deal man!" Yamcha exclaimed as he rubbed his now healed abdomen, "I swear the one that looked like an old man was able to absorb my energy! It's like he just turned my Kaio-Ken off!" He said standing up along with Tien.

"The one that attacked me was able to change shape, it's like he was made of millions of smaller robots." Tien said, blinking his third eye to ensure its function.

"Well then we have to go help them! Piccolo and Goku are taking those androids on all by themselves!" Krillin exclaimed. Tien and Yamcha nodded.

"Not that I doubt Goku or Piccolo's strength, they're pretty much the strongest that we've got. But I'm not sure that they can take on all three of them by their selves." Tien said.

"Yeah, so let's go!" Yamcha yelled and all three warriors blasted off into the sky, following Goku's energy.

"Wait for me!" Gohan exclaimed as he ran and jumped off the cliff again, shooting towards the three martial artists.

Bulma and Yajirobe stood there in silence, staring at the slipstreams the four had made when flying off. Bulma looked over at Yajirobe and frowned.

"Aren't you going to go with them? You're pretty strong right, why don't you ever help? You know how much those guys sacrifice to keep this world safe and all you ever do is stand around and hand people those magic beans!" Bulma yelled at him in frustration. Yajirobe stood there in silence for a few seconds longer before turning to look Bulma in the eye.

"I can't fly." He said bluntly, turning back to stare off into the sky. Bulma blinked.

"Oh." She said bluntly, Trunks beginning to squirm in her arms, "Well I can, wanna' go on a trip Trunksy!?" Bulma said to the infant who laughed and clapped his hands together, "Yes you do! Yes, you do!" Bulma said as she pulled a capsule out of her pocket and pressed the button on the top, releasing her flying car. She handed Trunks to Yajirobe and sat in the driver's seat. "Come on!" She yelled at Yajirobe he reluctantly sat in the passenger's seat, holding the baby in his arms.

* * *

Yamcha, Krillin, Tien and Gohan touched down in the wasteland to see Piccolo and Goku merely having a stare-off with the androids.

"Hmm, I see no need to worry myself over this. Nineteen, Zero, you two take care of this." Gero said as he stepped backwards, the two androids nodding and engaging their foes. Zero smirked as he stood in front of Goku, Nineteen rigidly walking to his spot in front of Piccolo. Piccolo shot forwards and began to exchange blows with the fat white robot, finding that weaving in and out of his attacks was surprisingly easy, landing blows to the android without difficulty. "Hmm, well that's surprising, I didn't expect Piccolo to have become this strong, I may have to end up fighting him myself." Gero examined the battlefield. Goku and Zero were at a stalemate as Zero was unable to land an attack on Goku, but when Goku attempted to attack the nanobots separated, making his attacks go straight through the robot. "Yes I see, Zero you can stop toying with him now. Nineteen, please attempt to do _something_ correctly." Zero smiled and his hands burst into millions of tiny robots that wrapped themselves around Goku.

"These guys are slowly shutting down your neural functions, let's see how long you can last." Piccolo snorted as he backhanded Nineteen into the ground.

"Android Twenty, how do you know so much about us?" Piccolo yelled at the android just standing on the sidelines, yelling commands at his comrades.

"Hmph, well I suppose I could tell you. You see our creator, Doctor Gero, sent a surveillance bot around Earth on every single one of your little battles examining all of you, from the Twenty-Second Martial Arts Tournament all the way up until it was destroyed when Frieza landed on earth, barely getting the information on him and his father." Twenty explained. Piccolo smirked at Twenty's explanation.

"So your little bot didn't go to Namek, and it was destroyed before Trunks faced off against Frieza?" Piccolo asked, confusing Goku that he knew about the stranger's true identity.

"That is correct, I have no information on a place called 'Namek' or much on this 'Trunks' except that he was the one to confront Frieza, my bot was destroyed by some blinding yellow light." Twenty confirmed.

"Now Goku!" Piccolo yelled, Goku nodded as the golden energy flooded from his body, destroying the nanobots wrapped around his body. Piccolo took his turban off and set it in Android Nineteen's arms as the robot tried to charge him, causing him to fall over.

"MY ARMS" Zero cried in pain, before his arms reformed himself, "Ha, just kidding." He said as he shot forwards to deliver a blow to Goku's face. But before he could hit Goku, the nanobots creating his hands fell to the ground, having fritzed out from coming in contact with Goku's aura. Goku looked at Zero before rushing forward and grabbing Zero by the shoulders, more and more nanobots falling from the android's body.

"Your small robots don't seem to do too well with my power." Goku said as he increased his energy, nanobots falling even faster.

"They, I, we've never felt a power this large before…" Zero muttered in fright as the Goku gave a single powerful burst of energy that caused every single one of the nanobots to clatter to the ground, all useless and fried. Twenty looked at Goku in surprise.

"Well, this is a complication." Twenty said as he backed away farther, "Nineteen, finish Piccolo off already!" Twenty growled angrily. Piccolo pressed two fingers to his head and then shot them forwards at the robot, releasing a spiraling beam of energy.

"SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!" Piccolo roared.

"NOW, NINETEEN!" Twenty screamed at the robot, whose hands shot into the air to meet with the drilling attack.

"What?" Piccolo grunted in surprise as his attack split into two separate beams that were sucked into two glass structures on his hands. Yamcha gasped in fright.

"Piccolo, he can absorb your energy. I thought it was just the older one, but they can both absorb energy." Yamcha called out to Piccolo, who grunted in anger. With the slight boost in energy, Nineteen shot forwards and grabbed Piccolo by the arms.

"Capture System: Lock" His hands made a clicking noise, "Energy absorption, start. I will absorb your energy until there is nothing left, you cannot escape." Nineteen spoke as Piccolo struggled to free himself, he felt his energy slowly being sucked into the android's hands. He thought for a second then smirked, he flipped over top of Nineteen, extending his arms for better reach. He swung his arms over his head, slamming Nineteen into the ground. He stepped on Nineteen and stared straight down at him. Piccolo opened his mouth, a yellow ball of energy appearing in his mouth.

"RAAAGGGHHHH" Piccolo screamed as he released the blast from his body, completely annihilating Nineteen's head and upper body. He shook the hands latched around his arms off, no longer connected to the main body to be able to keep locked. Twenty looked visibly distressed as the two warrior's confronted him.

"So uh, you want to take him or should I?" Goku asked Piccolo, who shrugged, "I'll rock-paper-scissors ya for it." Goku said holding, out his fist.

"No need, Kakarot. I'll be taking this clown down." A familiar voice said from behind the two. Vegeta stepped forwards from behind the two, standing directly in front of Android Twenty.

"Hey, it's you Vegeta! I thought I noticed your energy, you sure have gotten stronger!" Goku said, "Sure you can take him on, go for it!"

"I wasn't asking your permission, fool." Vegeta spat and looked towards Twenty, "So, this is one of the androids that brat spoke of? Doesn't look like much to me, more like a decrepit old man." The prince shrugged, folding his arms over his chest.

"Big talk, little man. You are nowhere close to Goku in power, you have no hope of defeating me." Twenty remarked, clenching his fists.

"Oh is that so? Well tell me something," Vegeta smirked, tightening his muscles and releasing a roar, golden energy bursting from his body and his hair standing on end, now glowing golden as well, "Does an android such as yourself experience fear?"

* * *

 **Wow! Longest chapter yet! Thanks for reading. I was kind of disappointed that there was only one review last time, but no worries. But you sure can bet they had to train a lot harder. No power levels this time, don't worry though, I'll have them next chapter, probably.**

 **Until next time, whenever that will be.**


	10. And Androids Are Dicks

**Chapter 10: …And Androids Are Dicks.**

 _So uh, you want to take him or should I_

Are _?" Goku asked Piccolo, who shrugged, "I'll rock-paper-scissors ya for it." Goku said holding, out his fist._

 _"No need, Kakarot. I'll be taking this clown down." A familiar voice said from behind the two. Vegeta stepped forwards, standing directly in front of Android Twenty._

 _"Hey, it's you Vegeta! I thought I noticed your energy, you sure have gotten stronger!" Goku said, "Sure you can take him on, go for it!"_

 _"I wasn't asking your permission, fool." Vegeta spat and looked towards Twenty, "So, this is one of the androids that brat spoke of? Doesn't look like much to me, more like a decrepit old man." The prince shrugged, folding his arms over his chest._

 _"Big talk, little man. You are nowhere close to Goku in power, you have no hope of defeating me." Twenty remarked, clenching his fists._

 _"Oh is that so? Well tell me something," Vegeta smirked, tightening his muscles and releasing a roar, golden energy bursting from his body and his hair standing on end, now glowing golden as well, "Does an android such as yourself experience fear?"_

"Fear? Why of course not, I am a completely cybernetic being, I experience no emotion." Twenty affirmed, words not matching actions as he shakily stepped away from Vegeta with eyes widened.

"Hmph, nice ploy, old fool. Alas, in my line of work spotting the fear on one's face becomes as easy as seeing the ground below your own two feet." Vegeta scoffed, merely standing with arms crossed, waiting for the android to act.

"Oh, really? You should be the one afraid, _Prince._ I could crush you in this instant if I did so please." Twenty spat, eyes narrowing to a glare.

"Then what's stopping you?" Vegeta taunted, his sharp smirk forming on his face.

"Absolutely nothing!" The android growled, lunging at Vegeta with his fist aimed at the Super Saiyan's face. Vegeta sidestepped the attack, grinning as he grabbed the android's arm tossing him into the dirt. Before Twenty even had time to react the Prince had taken a fistful of the fabric on his back and tossed him up into the air, thrusting his foot directly into his stomach and kicking him further into the air as he flew up. Vegeta kicked Twenty a good ways above him before flying in front of him in while he regained his composure.

"Oh no, android, you have left me shaking in my boots." Vegeta laughed, a burning sensation rising in his chest, he just tossed it into the back of his mind thinking it nothing more than the heat of having a battle after four long years.

"It seems I may have underestimated your strength, but fret not, I will deal with you soon enough." Twenty claimed, tossing a few blasts in the way of Vegeta's face, he flew underneath the Saiyan not a second later looking to grab him and drain his energy. The android growled in confusion when he grabbed nothing but air in his hands.

"Did you expect to distract me with that? You didn't even use that pesky 'sun flash' move the earthling scum are so fond of." Vegeta said disappointingly, a battle was a battle, but he expected it to be better than this.

"It's called Solar Flare!" Piccolo shouted up at him.

"Fuck off, Namek!" Vegeta called down to the Namekian, pushing aside the foot Twenty had attempted to lodge in his face sending the android spinning through the air. A painful twang shot through the Saiyan warrior's chest and he clutched it while hunching over slightly. _What is this?_ Vegeta thought, _It originally only felt like a burning passion for battle but this isn't-_ Vegeta was cut from his thoughts, a stabbing feeling shooting through his chest with a more intense pain, making him lose his leverage in the air. Twenty saw his opportunity and brought his foot down to Vegeta's skull, sending him crashing to the earth.

"Vegeta! Are you okay?" Goku shouted out to the warrior who stumbled up to his feet, only to fall back to his knees clutching his chest in agony, his air fading back to its dark black.

"Go…to…hell, Kakarot." Vegeta grumbled out as the android kicked him back into the dirt. Piccolo quickly came in and knocked the android away with an extended arm. "Fuck off…Namek…it's still…my fight." Vegeta gasped, his strength fading quickly. A lightbulb went off in Goku's head once he saw Vegeta clutching his chest.

"Vegeta! You must have contracted the heart disease Tru-" Goku stopped himself short before revealing that the young man from the future was in fact the son of Vegeta, "That guy from the future warned me about instead of me!" The messy haired warrior exclaimed to the Saiyan prince writhing in agony.

"Preposterous…no f'kin disease…can bring me down…you jackass." Vegeta coughed before finally collapsing face first into the dirt.

"Yamcha, get him to my house! Chi Chi has the medicine there!" Yamcha nodded in confusion before scrambling over to the fallen prince, carefully picking him up to make sure the usually hostile prince wasn't about to rip his face off. The bandit heaved the man over his shoulder and began to float off towards Mount Paozu.

Android Twenty, still lying in the dirt pretending to have been downed, saw no way out of this predicament. Even with the prince gone he realized Goku and Piccolo were more than enough to destroy him. Scanning his environment, he spotted an aircraft making its way towards the scene of the battle. _Locked on, Scanning,_ a computerized voice in his head informed him, _Occupants: Bulma, genius daughter of world known Doctor Briefs. Yajirobe, skilled swordsman and pupil of cat hermit, Korin. Trunks, son of Bulma and Saiyan Vegeta, born less than a year ago. All close to Son Goku,_ "Good…" Twenty grinned, he hopped up, launched a blast at the flying vehicle and flew away in one swift motion.

"Go, quickly, catch the androids before they get away!" Piccolo shouted as he began to fly off.

"What about the car? Bulma, Trunks and Yajirobe are in there!" Krillin shouted back staying in place.

"You can sense energy you prick! Someone's already on it!" Piccolo shouted before his voice was drowned out by the distance. Krillin sighed, he had sensed that two familiar energy signatures had appeared on the spot and saved everyone from the vehicle.

"Fine, fine." Krillin said as he sped off after Piccolo, Goku in front of him with Tien and Gohan coming in from behind.

* * *

"AAAAHHHHHH, wait huh? I'm flying!" Yajirobe exclaimed, flapping his arms in an attempt to further his position from the flaming wreck of flying car.

"No, you aren't, I am." A voice spoke from beside him, Yajirobe noticing he was hanging in the air by the back of his shirt, gripped by a steely arm. He looked over to see the baby Trunks, crying at the top of his lungs, being held in an arm made of actual flesh.

"The hell are you?" Yajirobe asked, struggling to free himself from the stranger's grip.

"Don't curse in front of the baby, and I wouldn't do that if I were you, you'll die." The stranger spoke, Yajirobe immediately stopped struggling and stayed still, watching the ground come closer as the man landed. He stood up on his feet and scuffled away from the man as a younger man landed next to him, setting Bulma down who grabbed her baby from the other man's arms and backed away towards Yajirobe, eyeing the one who had set her down.

"You're that boy from the future…" Bulma murmured, still shocked from being blasted from the air. "So you must be the guy that killed Cold." She said pointing in the other man's direction. Gohan and Trunks both nodded. "Who _are_ you two?" She asked.

"Well the funny thing is, you kind of already know us, Bulma." Gohan chuckled, scratching his head. Bulma scrunched her eyebrows and stared at the two men intensely, "Orange and blue gi, messy black hair, looks a lot like Goku…" She muttered, her eyes widening. "Oh my god, Gohan?!" She exclaimed, "What the hell happened to you! You're missing an arm for god's sake!"

"Yeah, technically you kind of built me the new one." Gohan smiled, patting his metal arm.

"And you…" Bulma said, swinging her eyes over to Trunks, "You look like my father, and you have my same hair color and…" She looked down at the baby cradled in her arms, jaw dropping, "Dear lord…Trunks, is that you?" Bulma asked in disbelief. Trunks blushed and looked downwards.

"Yeah mom, it's me…" Trunks said as he raised his eyes to his mother's. Bulma began to walk towards him, dropping the baby Trunks off in Gohan's arms, knowing she could trust him. The scarred man frowned as the baby began the gum on his metal limb. Bulma brushed her hand against the older Trunks' face.

"Look at you, you're all grown up, and so handsome…" She muttered as she embraced her son in a hug, who after a few shocked seconds returned it gratefully.

"The moment's touching and all but we need to know about what happened with the androids, Bulma." Gohan spoke, Trunks and Bulma releasing each other and Bulma nodding. Yajirobe sat down knowing he was going nowhere soon, and began to work out the confusing scene he'd just witnessed.

"Well they arrived basically when you said they would, but there were three instead of two of them." Bulma said. Trunks and Gohan's faces immediately hardened after hearing the news.

"Three androids? That can't be good." Trunks murmured, clenching his fists.

"Goku and Piccolo managed to take down two of them it looked like, when I was coming in Vegeta was battling the third one but Yamcha had to carry him away after he collapsed and then he shot us down and got away, everyone else went after him." Bulma explained, the warriors' faces didn't soften in the least upon hearing the news.

"Father collapsed in the middle of battle? That sounds peculiar." Trunks said worriedly, Gohan nodding along with the statement.

"Well we're going to investigate the battle scene really quickly; you guys should stay with us." Gohan said as he picked a baffled Yajirobe up off the ground. Bulma nodded and let herself be lifted up into her son's arms and they flew over to the scene which was only a couple of miles off.

* * *

"Where the hell did that stupid android go?" Piccolo grumbled as he searched through the crevices of the canyon they'd flown to chasing after the android.

"Man, I sure wish we had more intel on this Gero guy, then maybe we'd be able to track down where he's at, that's probably where the android is going." Krillin grumbled as he shoved boulders aside.

* * *

Trunks and Gohan set down their respective passenger's as they landed and walk over to where the battle had taken place. Confusion was already set in their faces as they looked at the bodies of the two destroyed androids.

"This one's just a bunch of nanobots…and this one is a pasty, fat, hunk of junk…" Gohan muttered in anger looking down at the two.

"Is something wrong?" Bulma as she walked over between the two to examine the bodies.

"These aren't the androids we know." Gohan grumbled as he kicked at the scattered nanobots.

"What?! Are you serious?" Bulma exclaimed.

"Yes, the androids we know are twins, a boy and a girl that look around the same age as Trunks here." Gohan scowled, "Definitely not a clown and nanobots, Bulma did you catch what the third android looked like?" Bulma thought for a second and nodded.

"Well he definitely doesn't match that description, he looked as if he was in his 70's or 80's, now that I think about it he kind of looked like Doctor Gero…" The two half-Saiyan warriors stopped in their tracks.

"Did you say Gero?" Gohan asked quietly.

"Yeah, which is weird because I could've sworn he died years ago." Bulma explained.

"Doctor Gero is the maniac who created these monstrosities, Bulma! Quick, can you tell me where his lab is?" Gohan rushed, grabbing her by her shoulders.

"Uh, well last I heard he'd stationed himself in the Northern Mountains after the Red Ribb-" Bulma never got to finish her sentence as the scarred man dropped her baby back off in her arms and had already sped off towards the Z-Fighter's location to inform them. Trunks had stayed back looking at her with sympathy.

"Here," He said, placing a capsule in her hand, "Mom gave this to us just in case we might need it, but neither Gohan or I can actually drive, head to Capsule Corp and for now and _please_ stay there." Trunks said as he bolted after his airborne mentor. Bulma clicked the capsule, a shiny blue flying car appearing in front of her. She handed Baby Trunks to Yajirobe and sat in the driver's seat, keys already in ignition.

"Get in Yajirobe! We're going to Capsule Corp!" Bulma told the pudgy man who sat down and strapped himself in the car, Trunks gurgling mindlessly. Bulma started the car and by no time they were in the sky.

"They were from the future." Yajirobe said in disbelief.

"Yes."

"And one of them was Goku's son."

"Yes."

"And one of them was _your_ son."

"Yes"

"The same one I'm holding right now."

"Yes"

"I am _so_ confused."

* * *

As the flying car drifted further away, small robots that had been kicked into the dirt began to swirl and reassemble themselves.

"Damn, looks like I only have enough bots left for this form…" Android Zero's voice said, giving off the same noise as a knife being scraped against a metal pipe, "Son Goku, I see now why Gero would want to destroy you, and now I will, but not in the same way…" Zero cackled as he slowly trudged off towards the North Mountains.

* * *

Piccolo halted his rock throwing as he felt two incoming energy signatures. The entire group crowded around the two newcomers.

"Gohan, Trunks you're here!" Goku exclaimed excitedly.

"Gohan?" The younger Gohan asked confused, "I'm already here."

"Trunks?" Krillin asked, "He's with Bulma, Goku." Goku's eyes widened nervously as he slowly inched towards the two future warriors.

"Uh-oh, time's not gonna explode or anything, is it?" Goku asked worriedly. Gohan patted the man on the shoulder, shaking his head at him.

"No, dad. You don't have to worry about revealing our identities to anyone anymore." Gohan assured him. Goku breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Dad? What?" The younger Gohan asked in confusion. He knew he was his dad's oldest and only son along with the fact that it wouldn't make any sense since the two basically looked the same age. But the other guy was the one that came back in time, so that meant, "You're the Super Saiyan that killed Cold! You mean, you're…me?" The child warrior asked quietly, amazed at looking at a grown up version of himself.

"Yes, that I am. I'm sorry that we couldn't reveal our identities to you last time we came here, but with what we knew about time travel at that point for all we knew it would've been catastrophic. I am Son Gohan and this is Trunks." Gohan explained, everyone else nodding in understanding.

"Gohan, geez man. You look bad ass." Krillin said to the future warrior. Piccolo merely stared at the scarred man, in disbelief.

"What have you had to go through, Gohan?" Piccolo asked him gruffly. Gohan merely shook his head.

"We'll explain everything later. For now, we all need to head to the Northern Mountains. That's where Doctor Gero is heading." Gohan stated as he pushed off of the ground and flew north, Trunks following suit. The others all followed a second later, still adjusting to the news.

"What do you mean Doctor Gero? I thought you said he was the guy who created the androids?" Tien asked, the question all the others were wondering.

"It turns out that Gero may be one of the androids that guys battled. We think he's on the way to awaken _more_ androids, seeing as the ones we saw that you guys had destroyed weren't the ones we've been battling for the past 17 years." Trunks explained. The warriors' faces hardened, knowing they might have a much more difficult battle ahead.

* * *

The buzzing of Bulma's phone was drowned out by her own whistling as she drove the vehicle through the sky. "Bulma, your phone is going off." Yajirobe informed her.

"Huh? Oh." Bulma said as she pulled the small device out of her pocket, "Hello, this is Bulma." She spoke into the phone. "Oh it's _you_ Yamcha, what do you want?" She sighed, "We were told to head to Capsule Corp, why should we go over there?" She asked, face shooting up in surprise and worry at the next words spoken, "Vegeta's got what?! Fine, fine I'll right over there!" Bulma exclaimed, hanging up the phone and tossing it into the back. "Hang on Yajirobe, we're turning around!" Bulma explained as she jerked the steering wheel to the right.

* * *

"Alright, everyone, look around! Gero's lab has to be around here somewhere!" Gero heard a voice call out in the distance.

"Bah, they must have rescued the girl if they're able to figure out where I was going…" The robotic man scowled. "No matter, I will be able to awaken Seventeen and Eighteen before they figure out where I am." The former Red Ribbon Army scientist quickly bustled over to a sturdy metal pod labeled **17** and tapped in a code on the keypad beside it. The pod opened, the heavy metal door swinging to the left of it. A man with shoulder length black hair stepped out, an orange bandanna wrapped around his neck. He wore regular blue jeans with bright green socks covering up his lower shins, tucked into regular, worn out, blue tennis shoes. Long white sleeves came out from beneath his black over shirt, the Red Ribbon Army's insignia stitched into the left side. To top it all off, a gun holster was fastened around his waist.

"Well, well, doctor Gero. It sure has been a while since you decided to wake me up, you gonna wake up sis over there too?" Android Seventeen said smoothly, cold blue eyes glinting with evil.

"Yes, of course Seventeen." Gero scoffed as he finished tapping the code into the other keypad, releasing another android. Stepping out was a young woman with similar features to Seventeen. She had pale blonde hair of the same length that was parted to the left. She had light brown boots with dark blue tights and a jeans skirt that matched with the sleeveless jean jacket she donned, the same Red Ribbon Army insignia stitched into the back. Her shirt was black with long sleeves that were patterned with black and white stripes.

"If it isn't the good doctor, Gero." Android Eighteen sneered, "What's your purpose for awakening us this time?" She drawled, looking at her nails.

"There are some pests outside that followed me here, I want you to dispose of them." Gero informed them.

"Oh really? And if we don't want to?" Seventeen sniggered. Crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"You must! Son Goku is out there! You are programmed to destroy him!" Gero yelled as his creations began to pester him.

"Ooohhh, that _does_ sound fun, but you see dear doctor we don't really like you ordering us around. By the way though, what's this?" Eighteen asked, knocking on a metal pod lying on the floor that was labelled **16**.

"Stay away from that! He's not…fully functional. You must do what I say, for I have this!" Gero exclaimed holding up a small device with a red button in the center, "With this I can shut you off at any time I wish from any location! So if you wish to stay awake you will do what I say!" As soon as the words had left has mouth, the device had been snatched from his hand, dangling by its antenna in the fingers of Seventeen.

"Oh, this little thing?" Seventeen mocked, swinging it back and forth.

"No, don't touch that, give it back to me!" Gero exclaimed, gaping in horror as the small remote was crushed into tiny metal bits and wires within Seventeen's hand.

"Oops." Seventeen cackled, letting the crushed remote sprinkle to the floor, "So what's our motivation now?" Seventeen questioned innocently.

"Hey guys! I found a big metal door over here!" A voice called from just outside the lab, with about six other sets of feet touching down seconds later.

"Hey, good job Krillin! You think this is the lab?" A cheerful voice questioned.

"Must be, nothing else like it here." A gruffer voice answered.

"Alright! Let's get in there!" Goku cheered.

"GET OUT THERE AND DESTROY THEM NOW!" Gero hollered. All at the same time a punch was landed on the door, the doors swinging open at incredible speeds and embedding themselves in the cave walls and Seventeen dashed forwards with an extended leg, successfully detaching Gero's head from his head and smashing it beneath his foot.

"Now, now, who do we have here?" Eighteen asked, placing a hand on her hip. Trunks gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

" _Them,_ they're the androids from our timeline!" Trunks yelled.

"Technically we're cyborgs." Seventeen stated.

"Get out of the way!" Trunks yelled, everyone flying away from him as he flashed into Super Saiyan, "AAAAGGGGHHHH!" The lavender haired boy yelled as he released dozens of blasts of ki into the mountain while flying backwards, obliterating the lab and most of the mountain along with it. "Di-did I do it? Are the androids gone?" Trunks huffed while he released the transformation. When the smoke cleared, it revealed that not only were Seventeen and Eighteen still standing sustaining no physical injuries, but that a third android had been activated. He had a spiky orange Mohawk and a distinct cleft chin. He wore a dark black bodysuit with green armor covering his chest, shins, shoulders, crotch, and wrists. The Red Ribbon Army insignia was on his chest in the same place as Seventeen's. He easily stood a couple of feet taller than any of the Z-Fighters.

"Heya, big guy. What's your name?" Seventeen asked, poking at the large machine's armor.

"I am designated Android Sixteen. Where is Son Goku." Sixteen asked, his voice sounding much less human than Seventeen or Eighteen's.

"Goku's over there, buddy. Why?" Eighteen asked, arms crossed.

"It is my sole purpose to destroy Son Goku." Sixteen stated matter of factly as he began to fly over in Goku's direction.

"Yeah sure, man, go at it. But you know what _I_ want? A car, I haven't driven in forever." Seventeen stated. Eighteen snorted.

"Of course you do, I just want some new clothes, I've been wearing these ones for _years_." Eighteen stated, clearly disgusted.

"Whatever, you're just mad you never got your license, what were we, twenty something when that ass kidnapped us? That's four years, sis." Seventeen laughed

"Oh, fuck off Seventeen. I could have gotten my license whenever I wanted!" Eighteen exclaimed, pushing her brother away from her.

"Sure, if you didn't punch the instructor in the face every time he marked a point off!" He snorted, flicking her in the face.

"Shut up! You probably don't even know where your license is!" She threw her arms up at her brother who just kept snickering. He pulled a sleek leather item out of his back pocket.

"It's still in my wallet." He said, flipping open the wallet and showing her his driver's license.

"Oh yeah I always forget how stupid your real name is, _Lapis Stone._ " Eighteen remarked, laughing to herself.

"Whatever, _Lazuli_." Seventeen snidely remarked, barely dodging the fist Eighteen had thrown at him. Sixteen and the Z-Fighter's had halted what they were doing to witness the spectacle in front of them.

"Are those two always like this, Trunks?" Krillin whispered to the swordsman floating beside him.

"Well, kind of. They're usually harsher and less laid back though. These two are basically acting like a couple of…bored college kids." Trunks explained while scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah this is really kind of odd." Gohan nodded. He and Trunks both flew over to confront the cyborgs who were busy bickering at each other. "Seventeen, Eighteen come up here and fight us already!" Gohan yelled down at the two.

"And why would we do that?" Eighteen sneered, looking up at them.

"We need to stop you before you kill everyone, like you did in our time!" Trunks exclaimed as he swung his sword at the blonde's head, she simply leaned her head backwards, kneeing the young man in the stomach.

"Well we weren't _planning_ on killing anyone, but if it's a fight you want it's a fight you'll get!" Seventeen cackled, lunging at Trunks only to be thrown into the ground by Gohan.

"Your fight is with me Seventeen." The scarred man spat. The two half-Saiyans flashed into Super Saiyan whilst they engaged in battle.

* * *

"You are Son Goku?" Sixteen asked as he stood in front of the spiky haired goofball.

"Yep, that's me!" Goku said, looking up at the tall android.

"I am here to kill you." Sixteen informed him as his fist rocketed towards Goku's face. The Earth raised Saiyan quickly turned into a Super Saiyan and grabbed the android's arm with the intent to flip him. While in the middle of the air a click came from Sixteen's boots as he propelled Goku into the ground with rocket boots. Before the android had a chance to smash his head in Goku rolled out of the way and jumped a couple yards away from him.

"Gohan! I want you to get out of here, go home!" Goku called to his son, a foot clipped his side knocking Goku a couple feet away from him.

"But, dad! I can help, I've been training too! I can help, please!" Gohan rushed forwards to attempt to help him. Sixteen batted the boy away with his hand.

"You will not interfere." Sixteen spoke coldly. Goku rushed in and released a flurry of kicks to the android's head.

"Gohan, it's not safe! These guys are much stronger than the ones we fought earlier, you have to get away!" Goku pleaded with his son, a fist literally flying into his face knocking him to the ground. Gohan gritted his teeth but flew up and away anyways. "Tien, think you can help me here?" Goku asked as he dusted himself off." Tien nodded and flew beside him.

"Kaioken Times Five!" Tien hollered, his red aura mingling with Goku's gold as they rushed the mechanical man.

* * *

Not even yards away from the battle, the young Gohan had been halted from his flight when something pierced his shoulder. It sent him flying at the ground and pinned him there, digging it's why through his bone.

"Now, now little Gohan, where do you think you're going?" A scratchy metallic voice asked him. Gohan looked up to see the face of a child, around the same age as him if not younger with spiky brown hair. The entire left side of his face, neck and part of his chest along with the entire left arm were pitch black, an eerie red eye shining through. His arm was turned into a grey spear of shifting robots.

"Android Zero, b-but what happened to you?" Gohan squirmed, attempting to free himself.

"Well I only had enough bots left to take this form and as you can see, not all of them are really in good shape. You see this is the form I was originally supposed to take, the form of dear doctor Gero's grandson, a way to immortalize him after his death if you would." Zero cackled, his sharp voice causing Gohan to cringe. "He did the same thing with his son, too, just look at Sixteen over there. Except that was _after_ the poor guy had already died. With his grandson it was different, he was suffering from an incurable disease, Gero was trying to save him. He even tried to load the little guy's consciousness into my main frame. Want to hear his last words?" Zero grinned evilly, his voice shifting to that of a scared little boy, "Please, it hurts. Grampa, please stop. Please help me…" Zero cackled once again after finishing. Gohan was frozen in fear and disgust at the sadistic android's actions. "Now I'm going to make you suffer, as a way to get back at your dear old dad for doing _this_ to me." Zero grinned, his spear-hand forming into a drill and beginning to whir causing Gohan to scream. The drilling had stopped suddenly and Gohan opened his eyes looking up. Krillin had quickly kicked the android away and was holding out a hand to the young boy. Gohan took his hand and stumbled up, tears still in the corners of his eyes.

"You okay, Gohan? Can you still fight?" Krillin asked with a worried look. The Saiyan boy sniffed and nodded.

"Yeah I'm okay, I-I can do this, Krillin." The monk nodded and they both turned to face android Zero.

"Mutilating Goku's son _and_ his best friend, this will be _fun_." Zero smiled, jumping at the two.

* * *

 **So all of the battles have been initiated, what could happen next? I'm finally back! Sorry I'm kind of an ass for not updating in like 4 months. I'm really bad at this whole updating on a regular basis thing. I also think I'm gonna try to do that thing some other FF authors do with answering reviews and stuff so here goes.**

 _ **R:**_ _**So now the duo are back to help, hope they can.**_

 _A:They sure are, and they'll do all they can._

 _ **R:**_ _**Um, I don't really get Zero's presence, to be honest. It's not like he was that important, yes? And I wanna see me some Future Trunks and Gohaaaaaan! I miss them so much! As for power levels, I don't care about them, really. I just like to know who's stronger than who, if you prefer working with them, no worries. And that's all. I know, not really constructive or anything.**_

 _A: Why you didn't think I was done with dear old Zero, did you? No the sadistic ass is back for a bit. Your prayers have been answered, our Future Duo has returned. To be completely honest figuring out these power levels confuses the shit out of me, so I don't think I'll be doing them anymore. I think every now and then I'll just sort of give a tier list of strength levels or something. Any reviews are great, no worries!_

 _ **R: It's really interesting so far. Too bad Android Zero wasn't of much use. I'm assuming future trunks and future Gohan are leaving back to their own timeline around the cell saga like the original timeline?**_

 _A: I'm glad you think so, and don't worry Zero isn't down for the count just yet. Unless I decide to include Bojack, which I probably will, it's pretty likely they'll return once the Cell Saga is up. But don't worry there's still lots more after that._

 _ **R:**_ _**Are bulma and videl going with gohan and trunks to the new timeline? or will they stay there? their original timeline I mean.**_

 _A: Sorry, no. The time machine only has the capacity to carry two people and Trunks and Gohan are most fit to take on the dangers that they will encounter. We'll get back to them at_ some _point though._

 **Thanks for reading, have a nice day.**


	11. Android Battle Royale

**Chapter 11: Android Battle Royale**

Android Eighteen smirked as she swiftly dodged the slashes and thrusts from Trunks' Brave Sword, "So I'm interested, what did you mean that we killed everyone in your time?" Eighteen was in fact quite perplexed by the statement, she had personally never killed anyone and the only person her brother had ever killed was the villainous Doctor Gero not even 10 minutes ago.

"Exactly what it sounds like," Trunks began, still attempting with his futile strikes at Eighteen's form, "Me and the man your brother is fighting are from seventeen years into the future," Trunks threw his sword up into the air and closed in quickly, aiming jabs for Eighteen's stomach before catching the sword and attempting a spinning slash at her neck. Still, none of the attacks hit as Eighteen merely brushed aside Trunks' fists and stepped out of the way of his sword. She didn't attempt to land any hits though, she was interested in his story and wanted to hear what he had to say, "You monsters showed up and wreaked havoc upon this world on this very day. You started out with the only people who could even stand a remote chance against you, mercilessly murdering Krillin, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Yajirobe, and my father Vegeta. Millions of people died in just the first _week_. By now, I'd estimate less than five percent of the Earth's population still lives." As Trunks recalled these memories he grew angrier, his attacks becoming faster and more precise. "Gohan was the only one of us that survived and he's been fighting against you two ever since trying to save our timeline. You've killed so _many_ , you two are nothing but savage monsters!" Trunks exclaimed.

Eighteen found herself in an honest state of shock at the story. Seventeen and herself weren't the best of people. They stole and they mocked and they lied, but murdering _millions_ of innocent people? She honestly couldn't think of a such a thing. Still impacted by Trunks' words Eighteen was barely able to dodge a sword thrust aimed directly at her face and found herself unable to escape the thundering fist that caught her by the side and caused her to crash into a nearby mountain. She was still appalled by the apparent actions of her future counterpart, but Eighteen didn't want to die after she'd just been reawakened.

"Listen, I don't know if what you're saying is true or just a load of _shit_ , but we aren't going around and killing anyone." Eighteen spat shooting a ki blast at Trunks' face and delivering a fierce kick to his abdomen that caused him to take a knee. Eighteen spun another kick into his head while he was down, sending him into the ground. Before she could get him again Trunks scurried up and slashed diagonally with his blade, tearing through the fabric of her shirt.

"Don't lie to me, it's just a trick! If I let you go then it all just happens over again and I can't let it!" The youthful Saiyan raked his hands across his chest in a familiar formation, "Burning Attack!" He screamed, the fiery ball of energy shot forward but only managed to singe her jacket and the tips of her hair.

"Ugh, you prick!" Eighteen said angrily, resolving to get a change of clothes once she dealt with her attacker. "Are you getting a load of what this guy is saying Seventeen?" She hollered at her brother angrily. Soon Seventeen and Gohan came into view. Seventeen was blocking fast and powerful punches from Gohan with his forearms.

"Yeah I got the whole spiel from scar-face over here, sounds made up if you ask me." Seventeen snorted. He punched Gohan in the nose causing the angry half-Saiyan to stumble back a couple of feet.

"It doesn't matter what you believe, Seventeen! What matters is that we'll defeat you two here today and you'll never cause any pain to this world!" Gohan shouted angrily. He stepped forward and thrust his arms out sending out a wave of ki that sent Seventeen flying, giving Gohan the chance to strike him to the ground with a double hammer fist to the abdomen.

Seventeen climbed up from the dirt brushing himself off with a glare directed at Gohan, "Man you are _annoying_. Listen, I'm not going to kill anyone! Except you if you keep pissing me off." Seventeen claimed angrily. He was tired of his freedom being hampered by the half-Saiyan.

"And even if I did believe you, what about your two friends over there? What are they going to do?" Gohan shouted, shooting a generic energy beam from his hands that was batted away by the android.

"Well I'm pretty sure Sixteen is going to kill Goku over there. You can stop him if you really want. From what I've seen he doesn't really have much personality. I think Gero made him for the sole purpose of killing Goku, actually." Seventeen shrugged. He wanted to see what Sixteen was like but the big guy didn't really seem to have anything to him. Gohan swung a leg at Seventeen that the android swiftly caught. He tossed him into the air and shot a large blast of ki at the warrior that connected and slightly frazzled Gohan.

"What about the other one? What exactly are you going to do about him?" Gohan queried. He pointed at android Zero who was currently locked into combat with Krillin and his younger counterpart.

"What 'other one'?" Seventeen asked as he followed Gohan's finger to the demonic looking child form of Zero, "Holy shit is that Zero? Man you have to get him the fuck out of her that _thing_ is bad news!" Seventeen said with an obvious look of surprise and a hint of fear in his eyes. Gohan was perplexed.

"What do you mean? What's wrong with him?" A concerned Gohan asked. He discerned that the surprise and horror on Seventeen's face was indeed real.

"Zero is evil! Me and Eighteen may be petty thieves but we're nowhere near as bad as him. the first time Gero released him he broke out and murdered fifty-seven people within an hour in South City! The way you were describing us from the future, that's this guy! He's going to fucking murder that kid!" Trunks and Gohan gave each other a look and turned towards where Gohan's power had suddenly spiked. While they were distracted Seventeen and Eighteen flew away, their energy unable to be sensed by the future warriors. Gohan turned back towards where the androids previously were.

"Dammit! C'mon Trunks we have to go make sure Krillin and Gohan are okay." Gohan said gritting his teeth. Trunks nodded and the two flew towards them.

* * *

Goku quickly dodged Android Sixteen's large fist that thundered through the air. The large robotic man threw another fist that was set to connect to Goku's temple. It missed by mere centimeters once Tien rushed in and delivered a kick to the side of Sixteen's head. Goku grabbed the arm out of the air and threw the android over his head into the ground. With his other hand, he shot an energy wave at the android's chest. While still in the air Sixteen kicked the wave at Tien and grabbed Goku out of the air. The wave blasted Tien in the face knocking him to the ground. Goku, still in the hands of the green-clad robot, was flipped up into the air as Sixteen planted his own feet on the ground. Moments later the warrior found himself in a Goku-shaped hole in the ground.

"Your efforts are futile, Son Goku. You will be terminated here." Sixteen spoke coldly. He removed one of his hands to reveal a cannon built into his arm. Goku's eyes widened in fear and he touched two fingers to his forehead. A fiery orange beam of energy erupted from Sixteen's arm-cannon that burrowed far into the earth. The android nodded in satisfaction and clicked his hand back in place.

"Phew! That was close!" Goku wiped his brow. Android Sixteen turned around and glared at the man now standing behind him.

"Your speed does not reach the parameters to have been able to dodge that attack." Sixteen stated. Goku raised two fingers and grinned.

"Instant Transmission! Sure is useful." Goku grinned and vanished once again right after he heard a shout from Tien.

"Tri-Beam!" The three-eyed warrior shouted. A blast of energy launched from his hands that were shaped in a triangular formation. The energy crashed into the large android sending him sprawling into the ground. Goku appeared a second later with azure ki cupped in his hands.

"Kamehameha!" He screamed. The beam was met by one of Sixteen's own. Goku was pushed back as the more powerful energy proved his attack futile.

"Why do you struggle so, Son Goku? Your power does not match my own. Even with your combined efforts I will kill you." Sixteen informed the Saiyan warrior. He had become increasingly frustrated by the fact that his target was not dying.

"I can't just die here. I have a duty to help protect this planet! Why are you so intent on killing me?" Goku asked as Sixteen punched him high into the air. The android grabbed him out of the air and hurled him at Tien. Tien caught the warrior and helped steady him on the ground.

"My program dictates it. My purpose is to kill you, Son Goku, and nothing else. I must achieve this." Sixteen stated in the same cold, metallic voice. He walked straight into a Dodon Ray launched by Tien. "If you were created for one sole purpose, what would you do?" Sixteen queried as he rocketed forwards and grabbed Goku by the neck, slowly crushing it.

"Sole…purpose?" Goku choked out. _You were sent here as an infant to exterminate this planet's inhabitants! What? Did you hit your head as a child or something?_ The words of his brother, Raditz, echoed through his head. He had hit his head as a child when his grandfather Gohan had accidentally dropped him down a ravine. Tien jumped in and repeatedly punched the android in the stomach. Sixteen knocked him away and pointed the hand with Goku held in it at Tien. The hand fired up and launched itself off Sixteen's arm. It crashed into Tien and both men fell into the ground. The rocket fist was followed up by a fiery beam of energy. Goku quickly grabbed Tien and instant transmissioned away.

"Tien, go for some physical attacks to his head." Goku told the three-eyed man as Sixteen went to collect his hand.

"Yeah, sure, but why?" Tien asked.

"Well you know how when I was sent here when I was little to kill everyone?" Goku asked. Tien nodded, following along, "Well the reason I didn't is because my grandpa Gohan accidentally dropped me on my head and it somehow changed my mind. I figure since he's a robot if we hit him in the head hard enough it'll knock his circuits around and he might not want to kill me anymore." Goku explained. Tien looked at his friend dumbfounded and sighed.

"I guess it's better than any plan I have." Tien said as he charged in and aimed a punch directly at the android's face. Sixteen ducked and sent a punch straight into Tien's stomach. Tien flew back and steadied himself in the air. "Solar Flare!" Tien yelled, spreading his hands in front of his face. A bright flash of light erupted into Sixteen's eyes and he jumped forwards. Sixteen's hand shot out and grabbed Tien. He raised him up into the air and hurled him into the closest rock formation.

"My eyes are specially designed against any light attacks such as your 'Solar Flare'." Sixteen explained. Goku ran up behind him and flipped up in the air. He slammed the heel of his foot into Sixteen's head sending the large android to the ground. Android Sixteen pushed himself off the ground and clutched his head. A recently inaccessible file in his database had been unlocked.

" _Dad I don't know about this. I-I'm honestly kind of scared._ " It was his voice without the dull robotic tone.

" _Don't worry, son. You'll be fine._ " An image came to him. It was an elderly man that stood much taller than anyone else his age. He had a bushy mustache and long graying hair with a large bald spot on his head.

" _Be safe, dad!_ " It was a childish voice. Another image. A young child that couldn't be more than eight years old. He had tousled, spiky brown hair that stuck up every which way. He had bright eyes and a smile brighter than a Solar Flare.

" _All right. I can do this._ " This time he saw himself, dressed in the garb of the Red Ribbon Army. He marched out of an underground bunker onto the battlefield. The last thing he saw was a blinding azure light. He saw the elderly man once more.

" _Son Goku must pay…_ " His voice muttered. Sixteen snapped back into the real world and saw Goku and Tien standing in front of him, defenses raised.

"Son Goku must pay?" Sixteen asked himself. He noticed the beauty of the nature around him. The way the leaves of the trees swayed in the wind. The way the birds soared gracefully through the air. The way the wind howled without a care. Before he could notice anymore the voice infiltrated his head once again.

" _KILL SON GOKU!_ " The voice screamed inside of his head. Sixteen launches forwards and smacked Tien away with the back of his hand. He raised his hand and began to pummel Goku. He raised the spiky haired warrior into the air and hurled him into a mountain. He collapsed with the voice screaming repeatedly in his head. He couldn't do anything else, the only thing he could do was listen. Tien and Goku recovered and flew back over to each other.

"Okay Goku I think I have an idea." Tien said. He wiped away some blood from a cut on his cheek. His kaioken aura had faded and he looked ragged. Goku nodded, "This android wants you dead, right? So, we kill you." Tien explained.

"What?! Kill me?! Are you insane?!" Goku yelled in confusion.

"Goku calm down. I used to be an assassin. Remember? I know how to kill someone without _actually_ killing them." Tien explained. Goku tipped his head to the side quizzically. "Just follow my lead." Tien and Goku cautiously walked over the android. "Hey, Sixteen!" Tien yelled at him. Sixteen looked up at the two. Tien turned Goku towards him and slammed a palm into the warrior's chest. Goku fell over. His body was lifeless. His chest was no longer heaving up and down in the act of respiration. Sixteen's scanners involuntarily scanned Goku's body.

"Son Goku is dead." The voice said, then ceased.

"What is this? You were Son Goku's friend. You wouldn't kill him." Sixteen looked up at Tien. The former assassin grimaced.

"There's nothing to it. He's dead. Now leave." Tien glared down at him. The android stood up, turned around, and flew away from them. Son Goku was dead. His program rewrote itself. It no longer told him what to do. He no longer had anything to do. He was lost. Sixteen stared towards the sky and simply flew.

Tien turned back towards his friend once he was sure the android was out of range. He bent down and slammed his palm into his friend's chest once again. Goku began sputtering and gasping for breath.

"What did you do to me?" Goku asked clutching his chest.

"Simple. When I hit you I sent a shockwave through your chest that stopped your heart. Once the big guy was gone I did it again and restarted your heart." Tien explained. Goku looked at him in amazement.

"Wow that's amazing!" Goku exclaimed. Then he felt his son's power level. It had suddenly raised considerably, "Well I guess we should go check that out." Goku said. Goku powered down and the two began to fly towards Gohan.

* * *

Gohan and Krillin gave each other unsettling looks. "Did that kid just say he was going to mutilate us?" Krillin asked shakily.

"That's no child, Krillin. He's a monster! He was created by Gero to be body for his dying grandson but something went horribly wrong along the way." Gohan explained, still shaking from the words the android had spoken to him earlier.

"Oh, uh, well we should be able to take him on right? Goku only needed to go Super Saiyan because he was strapped in his hold, right? We should be fine…right?" Krillin asked nervously, he definitely wasn't the strongest of the lot but Krillin knew that he had a duty to protect the Earth and its people, and that meant taking out evil beings such as the one still cackling in front of them. Even still, it didn't make him any less absolutely terrified.

"I sure hope so, Krillin, but this android is made of nanobots which probably means he's really crafty. Be careful." Krillin nodded and together they both charged the evil robot. It was true that the android wasn't particularly strong. Perhaps not even stronger than Android 19, but he made up for it. His nanobots provided excellent range since it allowed him the ability to extend his arms and legs as well as disconnecting his body parts to completely avoid being hit. He was also able to control the microscopic bots independently of his main body. As Krillin and Gohan sent flurries of attacks at him he simply shifted around his body,the attacks not even coming close.

"Is that all you have you fucking weaklings?!" Zero laughed, "You're so pathetic. Are you sure you're even Goku's son?" The mock-child questioned. His arms spread out and formed into tendrils that shocked Gohan and Krillin with enough force to send them sprawling a couple of yards back, "I was expecting have at least _some_ fun with this fight, I guess I'll only be exhilarated by tearing your bodies apart." The android's wicked smile returned once again, his arms reformed only to be shot out. Fists literally flew around at the two short warriors. Out of the knuckles of the fists grew three inch spikes, making Gohan and Krillin sure to keep on their toes.

"Gohan do you have any idea how we can beat this guy?" Krillin asked worriedly, a fist skimming by his face that left a shallow cut.

"Well judging by his design, I figure that he'd have some sort of core inside of him that controls the nanobots." Gohan explained, kicking a fist out of the air and dispersing it. The fist quickly reformed and cut through a lock of Gohan's hair. "But the problem is that I think he can shift it around inside of himself so we can't get a definite lock on it." Krillin nodded in understanding.

"So any idea how we can get to it?" The bald monk inquired.

"Can you throw a couple of kienzan at him?"

"Won't he just bisect himself to avoid them?"

"Yes." Gohan simply stated, Krillin raised an eyebrow but complied anyways. He raised his hands while still maneuvering to avoid being battered and cut apart. Two shimmering golden disks of energy formed within his hands.

"DESTRUCTO DISK!" Krillin shouted making sure to telegraph his attack to the android.

"Oh yeah, because that'll so work." Zero drawled, obviously not having caught wind of any words spoken between the two, "You're really as dumb as you look, Krillin." The disks spun rapidly towards the sarcastic android, whom separated his body to make sure the disks went through him. Krillin rotated his hands and pulled his arms back, adjusting the disks so they repeatedly flew at him in different directions. Gohan quietly observed the inside of the android's body while still managing to dodge the fists that were still coming at him even with all the commotion. He caught a glint of something silver contrasting to the dull gray and nodded at Krillin. The monk understood and brought the kienzan back into the same spot. Gohan dashed forward and grabbed at the sphere only for it to move further up the android's arm. Expecting this Gohan delivered a knife hand strike to the android's upper arm, preventing the sphere from moving upward and reached down in and pulled it out while the arm was momentarily disconnected. As soon as he had a hold on the sphere Gohan ripped his hand away and jumped back to Krillin. Android Zero's eyes widened in surprise and he nodded somewhat impressed.

"Smart, Gohan, smart. Your dad didn't even realize I had a core. He just tried to fry me. Well done, Gohan." Android Zero smirked, Gohan was confused by how relaxed he was as he was basically holding the android's essence within the palm of his hand, "But obviously I do have precautions against circumstances such as these." Gohan was hit with a sudden realization but before he could crush the sphere it sent thousands of volts of electricity throughout his body. The young warrior collapsed face first in the dirt on the spot. Zero simply sighed and walked forward to grab the silver object out of the young boy's shaking and seizuring form. The sphere merely melded back into his body after connecting with his hand.

"Such a shame. Now it wouldn't be any fun to torture you just yet, Gohan, you wouldn't really put up much of a fight," The android's head slowly turned towards Krillin, a single red eye gleaming eerily. The android wore a look of pure delight on his face, the face of a monster, the countenance of one who knows no mercy. Krillin realized then that Gohan was right. He looked into this android's eyes he could see the eyes of someone who existed solely to cause suffering to others. A true monster. This was no boy, and Krillin would not treat him as such. "So, Krillin, how about it?" The android let out a slight giggle that shortly developed into maniac laughter.

"You androids are just as awful as they said you were! I don't care what it takes! I'll stop at nothing to make sure you're defeated!" Krillin charged forward, forcing his power as high as it would go. Despite the courageous warrior's boasts, his barrage of attacks still couldn't connect. He jumped back and cupped his hands to his side with a golden energy growing. "Kamehameha!" He shouted releasing the blast, forcing as much energy as he could into it with determination to exterminate this menace. Expecting a regular energy wave, Zero merely stepped to the side and the beam went straight past him. He didn't, however; notice that once it had passed him the beam curved upwards and shot into the sky. Dozens more of energy beams rained down upon android Zero. They forced him into the ground and rained upon his back, scorching a good number of his bots and rendering them useless as they fell to the ground. Krillin, having expended all his energy in forming the Scatter Kamehameha fell to the ground. He had no energy left to even stand.

"Well Krillin I must say, you really did manage to get on my nerves. You fought valiantly, but in the end, I really don't give a shit. Get ready, because this is gonna fucking hurt." Android Zero said, all humor in his voice gone, leaving only cold anger and malevolence. He formed his arm into a spear once again and forced it through Krillin's shoulder blade and into the ground. He had tried to do the same to Gohan, but this 'hero' had intervened. Zero was having fun earlier. Now he had just become aggravated and was hoping that torturing Goku's best friend would bring him some joy. The android's spear hand once again acquired its drill form, spinning ever so slowly into Krillin's wound, gaining speed by the second. Poor Krillin didn't have enough energy to stand, but he definitely had enough to scream. The android began to smile as he added two more drills into the helpless fighter's back.

Gohan, amazingly still conscious, could do nothing but sit and listen to his friend scream only feet away from him. It was the same scream. The same scream Krillin had exhibited when Frieza had ended his life. It was a sight that still haunted the young Saiyan's dreams. He tried to push himself off the ground to no avail. It was _always_ like this, no matter how hard he tried he was always useless to the situation. He tried just as hard as everyone else. It had been his fault Mister Piccolo had died only a year ago, because Piccolo was trying to protect _him_. Gohan clenched his fist and struggled, raising his torso off of the ground by an inch. He had to witness four of his friends die that day and he couldn't do anything. It was the same on Namek, while he had gotten some good hits on Frieza in his earlier forms it was no use. Frieza still nearly wiped out the Namekians. He murdered Vegeta, a man who only wanted vengeance for his lost planet and Krillin who was only trying to do what was right. Here it was, happening again. He had trained so hard and yet he was still down. He was still helpless to fight as one of his friends suffered right before his eyes. A light flickered in his eyes. He wouldn't let it happen anymore.

"No…more" Gohan gritted his teeth, managing to make it up on both of his hands. Zero turned his head from his activity and smiled wickedly.

"Oh, Gohan. Still awake, are we? Don't worry I'll get to you in just a minute." The cruel android laughed as he kicked the boy back into the dirt. Gohan grimaced. He just wasn't strong enough. He _needed_ to be stronger, as strong as his dad and as strong as his future counterpart. They had gotten there. So, why couldn't he? Gohan searched deep inside himself as he struggled to his knees once more. He searched for something deep inside himself. Something that could help. Then, once he thought there was nothing, he discovered something. Something primal that was locked away deep within himself. He grabbed at it with his mind, with his spirit. He needed to be stronger. He needed to help Krillin. He needed to be able to help _everyone_ , and then he felt it. The light in his eyes flared. His head snapped back as he felt a sudden rage consume him, engulfing his entire being. He grunted, his grunts morphing into full blown screams as his dark black hair began to flash golden and hover. Zero turned around in confusion at the boy's antics only for his eyes to become wide with fear. Gohan finally let go with a raw, primal scream of rage. His hair hovered in the air with a golden glow, the same glow his aura had become. His eyes, now a piercing blue, glared straight through Zero.

"Oh, shit. You did that thing your dad does." Android Zero stated, at a loss for words. He backed away and began to run. Gohan's form flickered and immediately apparated in front of him.

"Are you trying to run away? You're a monster, Zero. You're an atrocity and I can't allow you to be here any longer." Gohan said in a low voice, rage glowing on his face.

"You think just because you unlocked some dumb hereditary transformation you can beat me?" Zero asked, covering his overwhelming fear with a façade of bravery. His hand turned into a spear once more as he drove it towards Gohan's heart. The spear was caught without a problem and the nanobots forming it were crushed within Gohan's grip.

"Yes." Gohan grabbed android Zero's arms and poured his newfound Super Saiyan energy into the robot. The malicious android began to shake and shudder as he was overloaded with the golden energy. Nanobots shut down and exploded. Gohan gave one final push, forcing so much energy into the android that all the nanobots systematically exploded at once. The only thing left was the shining silver core. Gohan snatched it out of the air and crushed it to dust in his hand. "Good riddance."

* * *

Gohan was standing there, his golden aura flickering around him. Krillin was lying on the ground, blood oozing out of the drill wounds in his back. There were tons of nanobots scattered around the ground. They were burnt or broken. This was the scene the other four warriors arrived to.

Tien quickly walked over to Krillin to give the short monk a senzu bean. Goku slowly approached his son and set a hand on his shoulder, "Son, are you okay? It's me. It's your dad." Goku soothed his son. Gohan's grunting began to soften, "I know the transformation is overwhelming at first, but I need you to calm down. Think about Piccolo or Icarus or your mom. Everything is going to be okay." The older Saiyan reassured his son. Gohan let out one final grunt and his hair faded back to its normal color and fell upon his back. His golden aura vanished and the young warrior fell to his knees.

"D-did I do it?" Gohan asked. He looked around at the mess of exploded android that he'd created.

"You did great, son." Goku told him, "In fact I think you're the only one of us that really beat their opponent her today." Goku laughed. Gohan smiled at the praise from his father.

"Where is Mister Piccolo anyways?" Gohan asked.

"I can answer that one." Krillin responded. The short man had just recovered with the help of the senzu bean, "When he sensed you were in trouble I told him I would go to help you. He said he was going to go search the remnants of Gero's lab." As if on cue, Piccolo landed amongst the group of fighters.

"I felt Gohan's energy. What happened?" Piccolo asked.

"I became a Super Saiyan, Mister Piccolo! I beat the android!" Gohan explained excitedly. Future Gohan smiled off to the side. This version of him had a much more momentous transformation than his own. Piccolo raised a brow and smirked.

"Well done, kid." Piccolo told him which caused the young warrior to smile brighter. Piccolo turned towards the older Gohan and Trunks. "Aside from that, I was searching Gero's lab and found another secret lab hidden underneath of it." Everyone widened their eyes in surprise. Piccolo pulled out a set of blueprints. "I found these and I believe they're the schematics for the two androids that you two were fighting. I figure we can take these to Bulma and she can do something with them." Piccolo explained.

"Did you find anything else down there, Piccolo?" Krillin asked. Piccolo nodded.

"I found the containment units for 3 more androids. I destroyed them. Better safe than sorry. I also saw a large tank with some sort of embryo growing inside of it. I wasn't sure what it was so I decided not to mess with it. I figure we can investigate it later." The Namekian told them.

"Well Bulma, Vegeta, and Yamcha are all at my house so I guess we should head there and discuss our course of action." Goku said. All of the fighters nodded and followed Goku as he flew towards Mount Paozu.

* * *

As Android Sixteen flew two more figures caught up and flew alongside him. He looked to the left and to the right.

"Android Seventeen, Android Eighteen. What are you two doing here?" Sixteen asked.

"Well we slipped away from Scarface and Bowl Cut and we didn't have anything better to do." Seventeen answered, "What about you, man? Kill Goku?"

"No. I did not, but it seems I no longer have to." Sixteen explained.

"What? Why not?" Eighteen asked.

"Son Goku struck me very hard in the head when I was fighting him. It seemed to mess with my circuitry and I started seeing things. A voice kept repeatedly telling me to kill Son Goku and I could do nothing." Sixteen explained to the other two androids. "Then Tien Shinhan 'killed' Son Goku in front of me. I knew that he wouldn't possibly do such a thing and when I was far enough away I scanned and found Son Goku very much alive." Seventeen raised an eyebrow.

"So, if you know he's alive why don't you go and kill him?" The lanky android queried.

"That's the thing. When my scanners sensed that Son Goku was 'dead' the voice stopped. It was as if my program had rewritten itself. It no longer tells me I need to kill Son Goku. It no longer tells me anything. I don't know what to do." Sixteen stated solemnly as the trio soared through the air.

"Well, big guy. What do you _want_ to do?" Eighteen asked. Sixteen thought. He thought about the beauty in nature he'd discovered during his fight.

"I think…I think I'd like to explore this earth. Its nature, its people, its wildlife. There's a certain beauty to it that I wish to understand." The large android decided. Seventeen and Eighteen nodded.

"Alright. You know what, man? We'll explore it with you." Seventeen said. Sixteen looked at the two who were smiling at him. He looked forwards with a small smile of his own.

"That sounds nice. I would like that." The hulking android admitted. The three flew along in silence for the next couple of minutes.

"I'm totally still stealing a car."

* * *

 **I am so horrible at updating, I know. I'm sorry. Androids Sixteen, Seventeen and Eighteen have always been some of my favorite characters. It makes me sad there's only a few hints dropped about their backstories so I've decided to delve into them myself. Remember if you have any questions just PM me or review and I'll try to answer them in the next chapter.**

 **R: Why is Vegeta 550,000? He has to be at least stronger than Piccolo when he fought final form Frieza lol**

 _A: Ah, that's a mistake on my part. I'm not good with the whole power level thing in the first place, they were mostly just conjecture. Vegeta should have been equal with or more powerful than Piccolo there. I'll have to go back in and delete those at some point._

 **R: I hope both M-Trunks and M-Gohan achieve SS2 this time around.**

 _A: I sure hope so too! Don't worry. I plan on doing a lot and going far with this story (If I can ever get my damn ass in gear) Sooooo, if I say reach somewhere along the lines of the current arcs in Super, wouldn't it be highly plausible that two of the main characters of the story reach at least Super Saiyan 2?_

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed.**


	12. Course of Action

**Chapter 12: Course of Action**

Goku's house on 439 East District, Mount Paozu was quite crowded, it was not suited to hold so many people, afterall. Chi-Chi, Goku, Piccolo, Yamcha, Tien, Krillin, and both versions of Trunks and Gohan found themselves squished into the kitchen. Chi-Chi had shooed Yajirobe out of the house once he was caught trying to raid the fridge. Baby Trunks, who was situated in the young Gohan's arms, was having trouble sleeping. Evidently he wasn't the only one.

"GAAAAHHHH! Get your filthy hands off of me, woman!" Came Vegeta's roar of disapproval. Even afflicted with heart disease it seemed that the mighty Prince of All Saiyans would not rest.

"Dammit, Vegeta! If you don't rest the medicine can't work its way through your body!" Bulma yelled in reply to Vegeta's outcry.

"Oh, what the hell do you know?" Vegeta snarled.

"I'm a scientist, Vegeta! Go to sleep or you're going to die!" Bulma said, giving the angry saiyan an ultimatum.

"Whatever!" Vegeta growled, ending the conversation. There was a huff of anger, the slamming of a door, the stomping of feet, and suddenly Bulma was standing in the hallway.

"That man is impossible!" She exclaimed. The scientist proceeded to push Yamcha out of his seat and take it. The group generally nodded in agreement. They had been going on like that for the past forty minutes or so. It had made it quite difficult to for the day's information to be passed around. Earlier Trunks and Gohan had explained their story to everyone. It included a lot of gasps and Chi-Chi crying into Gohan's chest making comments about his scars and his arm. Bulma decided to relay the future information to Vegeta later, he already had a heart condition and she feared that telling people that the lavender haired young man he'd met was in fact his son from the future had a good chance of killing the man.

"So Bulma, do you think you can do anything with this blueprints?" The older Gohan asked. Bulma nodded as she surveyed the blueprints that had been lain across the table.

"You can see here," Bulma began to explain, pointing at something on the prints, "That inside both androids' chests there's a bomb. It was probably originally a failsafe for Gero, you know 'If you don't comply, I will destroy you'. I suppose it didn't exactly work out because from the way the wiring looks it seems he wasn't able to keep them from accessing the bombs themselves, kind of takes away the purpose,"

"So, how's that help us?" Yamcha asked.

"Well, using these blueprints I think I can create a remote to deactivates the bombs, seeing as they're the biggest problem," Bulma explained.

"Well you don't think they'd actually use 'em, do ya? I don't think they're the type to just forfeit their lives for a win," Goku said. Trunks nodded.

"He's got a point, even if they don't seem as bloodthirsty here, Seventeen and Eighteen are probably two of the people that care the most about their lives that I know of," Trunks explained.

"It's better to be safe than sorry, guys," Bulma explained, "I can also probably make the remote so I can deactivate the androids themselves," There were mixed reactions to this. After Krillin's interaction with Android Zero, he wanted them gone. If all of the android's were made by Doctor Gero, he figured they must all be the same. The Future Gohan and Trunks felt conflicted. Androids Seventeen and Eighteen were the ones that had tortured them for so long, but the ones here didn't seem the same. When they were fighting, the androids weren't even trying to kill them, if anything they were just trying to defend themselves from the future warriors' onslaught. Seventeen had seemed pretty sincere when he warned Gohan about Zero, even though he'd used it as an opportunity to slip away. It was an odd perspective for the two to view. Everyone else in the room only wanted the androids gone if they were a real threat.

"I mean, we can't just take away their free will, can we?" Young Gohan asked timidly. He didn't want the androids to be shut down if they hadn't done anything wrong.

"Of course we can, Gohan. They're killers," Krillin told the child coldly. Gohan frowned, Krillin seemed angrier than usual.

"But Krillin, they're people too!" Gohan reasoned.

"No they're not, they're robots!" Krillin yelled.

"Actually," Bulma interjected. Krillin and Gohan turned to look at her, "Seventeen and Eighteen aren't actually _androids_ per se. It says something here about a 'human augmentation' here, Seventeen and Eighteen were originally human. They're less like the terminator, and more like, well Gohan here," Bulma explained, gesturing to Gohan and his metal arm. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, "Technically they're not even androids, they're cyborgs,"

"If they're part human, can you still shut them down?" Tien asked.

"Yes, I believe so," Bulma answered.

"Before we do anything, we need to be able to find them first," Future Gohan told the group. "Bulma, do you think you can track them?"

"I think so. All of the androids should operate on the same frequency, Gero would have needed a way to track them as well. If I can find that frequency then I can track the androids, and I know I said they're called cyborgs but I'm already used to calling them androids. I can probably rewire the dragon ball radar to do it too, it would save time since I don't have to build an entirely new device," Bulma told them. "I think the sooner I get to work, the better."

"Alright, while Bulma's working, we need to decide what to do about the androids," Trunks told everyone. They nodded in agreement.

* * *

The door to Goku's room creaked as Bulma entered.

"Vegeta?" She asked, "You awake?" Vegeta was turned on his side in Goku and Chi-Chi's bed, something she was sure the woman woman wasn't very happy about. His chest raised up and down in steady breath. It was probably the most peaceful that Bulma had ever seen the saiyan. If he was awake, he didn't let her know. She sat on the edge of the bed opposite of Vegeta. "Look Vegeta, I know your pride doesn't allow me to help you without a fight, but I only do it because I care. I know we fight a lot but I _do,_ " She sighed, "I guess that must be odd for you if all the people that you used to hang around were like Raditz and Frieza, but it's true. I love you Vegeta, and Trunks needs his father. I don't know what things were like on the planet you're from, but here family matters. I know I can't make you do anything, but please just think about it," Vegeta made no signs to show that he was listening.

"Hey Bulma, you ready?" Goku asked from the doorway. Bulma nodded at him.

"Bye, Vegeta," Bulma said to the saiyan's back. There was an odd 'swish' sound and they were gone. Vegeta rolled over on to his back and stared at the ceiling, his heart heavy, and not because of the disease. He had a lot to think about.

* * *

"Turn the news on," Trunks told Krillin, the one closest to the television.

"Why? Has something happened?" Krillin asked.

"Not that I know of, but we'll need to have it on if something has or in the case it does," Trunks answered. Krillin nodded and pressed a button causing the television to flicker to life.

" _And now some words from our sponsor, Mister Sat-_ " The television flickered as the channel was changed.

" _Can we really trust a president that's a dog?_ " Flicker.

" _Your drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens!_ " Flicker.

" _In other news, the mysterious disappearances in Gingertown continue,_ " Krillin looked over at Trunks.

"Do you think that's them?" Krillin asked the half-saiyan. Trunks shook his head.

"I don't thinkso, It's not their MO. It'd probably be a large scale attack, an entire city destroyed. Plus this sounds like it's something that's been going on, the androids just woke up today," Trunks explained. Krillin looked to be in turmoil.

"How do you feel about this whole thing, Trunks? I mean the androids have terrorized you guys for years! You couldn't be on their side, could you?"

"I don't know, Krillin. You're right, the androids from _my_ time have ruined _my_ time, but I don't know about these ones. We don't know much about time travel, but from our understanding travelling back to you guys caused ripples, and your time is different from ours now. In our timeline there were no androids zero, sixteen, nineteen, or twenty. Here, father was the one who was afflicted with the heart disease and he's achieved super saiyan, something he never did in my time. It's not too farfetched for the androids to be different here," Trunks told Krillin, "When me and Gohan were fighting them, they were on the _defensive._ Our androids are always on the offensive, if they were like them they would have been trying to slaughter us," Krillin let that sink, he was in a funk over this whole android thing.

"Tien, did Sixteen seem overly murderous to you?" Krillin asked the three-eyed man.

"At first, yes. I'm fairly certain he was an actual android, he kept talking about his programming and he felt pretty solid," Tien said, rubbing his fist, "When I stopped Goku's heart, it rewrote his program and he didn't want to kill Goku anymore, even though I'm pretty sure he knew that Goku wasn't dead. He certainly knew I wouldn't kill him. He seemed pretty decent, for a robot I mean," Tien finished.

"Are you sure he didn't just leave because you guys were too strong for him? I mean Goku is really strong and you're pretty good with the kaioken," Krillin tried reasoning with Tien. The triclops shook his head.

"Sixteen was pummeling us, if I hadn't done what I did he would have killed Goku, no doubt about it," Tien explained gravely. Krillin frowned at that.

"So what was up with Zero?" Krillin asked.

"I think I know," Gohan said, approaching them. He had passed baby Trunks off to Yamcha, who yelled as the baby grabbed his nose. "Zero told me that he was based off of Gero's grandson, and that Gero had tried to upload his grandson's consciousness into Zero. Something must have gone wrong and corrupted him, Zero wasn't supposed to be like that," Gohan explained.

"Oh," Krillin said simply.

"I guess Gero couldn't get any of the androids' personalities right," Gohan joked. Krillin had to take a minute to think. His encounter with Android Zero had led him to an early conclusion. Being who he was, having been made fun of at Orin Temple all those years, Krillin was one to know that you shouldn't make premature decisions about people that you didn't know.

"L-let's not shut down the androids, guys," Krillin said shakily.

"I suppose if Vegeta, Piccolo, and I can get second chances, they should too," Tien agreed. Gohan smiled and nodded.

"Alright," Trunks hesitantly agreed, "But the remote will still be made, and we still need to find and talk with them," The others agreed.

"So we'll tell Bulma and the others when the devices are done?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, sounds good. Where are," Krillin looked around, "Goku, Piccolo, and big Gohan anyways?" The short monk asked.

"Dad is probably hanging out with Bulma while she works, Piccolo said something about going to Kami's, and I think big me is about to meet Icarus," Gohan explained. On cue, the scarred man stuck his head through Gohan's bedroom window.

"You still have Icarus? Trunks, there's a dragon out here, he's as big as the house!" Future Gohan said, pulling his head back through the window. Trunks raised his eyebrow, he never saw Gohan that happy.

"You have a dragon? He _had_ a dragon?" Trunks asked quizzically. Gohan nodded and grabbed Trunks arm, leading him outside. Trunks saw that there was, in fact, a dragon who was the size of the house. Icarus had grown quite a bit over the years. His six horns had all grown longer, the side horns having curved and grown backwards. His small wings had grown much longer and now had no problem carrying the dragon through the air. The dragon no longer looked so chubby and cute, having reached what was called 'dragon adolescence' he now packed on muscle and looked much sleeker. His purple scales shimmered in the sun.

"My Icarus never got this big, something," Gohan's face fell, "Well, something bad happened to him," Gohan trailed off, clearly not wanting to speak anymore of it. "But man, it's good to see you buddy!" Icarus chirped and nuzzled Future Gohan, recognizing his master's scent. He then reared back in confusion. There were two of his master, one who looked like he normally saw him, and one much older with scars and a metal arm. Icarus figured they looked similar enough and had almost the exact same scent, so he continued to nuzzle the man.

"How much do you have to feed him?" Trunks asked, thinking that a dragon was a much bigger responsibility as a pet than a puppy.

"We live in the mountains, Trunks. He feeds himself," Gohan explained. Before Trunks could reply to that, Icarus made a burping sound, and a fireball shot into the sky.

"Well that's new," Gohan said blandly, not entirely sure what to say.

* * *

There was a light 'tap' as Piccolo's feet landed on the floor of Kami's lookout. Kami stood in front of him, having sensed Piccolo's arrival. The elder namekian regarded Piccolo with a grim expression, his hand gripping his cane tightly.

"So you sensed it as well, this malicious force?" Piccolo asked the so called deity.

"Of course I did, I am Earth's guardian after all," Kami said calmly, "I sensed it days ago, but it was hazy and I couldn't be sure. It has grown stronger, though, it is a threat,"

"It must be linked with these disappearances in Gingertown. It could be taking them, adding their power to its own," Piccolo theorized.

"If it wanted to substantially increase its power through humans it would have to take, why, hundreds of thousands of them," Kami said incredulously.

"And you don't think that it wouldn't? That's why I'm here Kami, we need to act before it does," Piccolo shot at him.

"And what do you propose we do?" Kami spit, his temper rising.

"You already know," Piccolo replied gruffly. Kami sighed and stared at his counterpart. Indeed he did know, but he didn't know if it was something he could go through with.

"I cannot fuse with you Piccolo. I am the guardian of Earth, and without me the dragon balls will vanish," Kami reasoned. Piccolo scowled.

"We have more immediate problems! If this thing gets out of control even Super Saiyans won't be able to handle it! Combined, our power is stronger than a Super Saiyan, we need to take care of this before it becomes an even bigger threat," Piccolo argued.

"What if with our combined power even we cannot handle it? If we fail, then there are no dragon balls and everyone else is up against immeasurable odds. I cannot stand for that Piccolo!" Kami yelled. "What of Gohan, the one from the future? He is most likely the strongest Super Saiyan, why not send him to battle the monstrosity?"

"I don't want to bring him into this, that boy has been through enough. He is here to help us by his own desire, this has nothing to do with him," Piccolo barked.

"Boy? Why Piccolo, I believe he is older than you, you are but fourteen. I think sometimes you forget that," Kami leveled.

"Well if we're on the matter of age, you're over three hundred years old Kami, and you're only part of a whole, " Piccolo looked the elderly namekian in the eye. Kami shifted, uncomfortable, "You're nearing the end of your rope, you're hardly even fit to be a guardian anymore," Piccolo stated harshly. Kami looked at the warrior in shock before sighing, knowing that his words were true.

"If I were to fuse with you, what would you suppose we do about a new guardian?" Kami asked. Piccolo thought.

"What about Mister Popo? He's been here for years, he should know all the ins and outs," Piccolo suggested. Kami shook his head.

"Mister Popo was created in Otherworld specifically to be the attendant to the guardian, he physically cannot be the guardian himself," Kami answered.

"Is no one on Earth suited for the position?" Piccolo asked. Kami relaxed the grip on his cane to think.

"The only two I can think of that are would be that Tenshinhan and Roshi, but I do not think either of them could," Said Kami.

"Why not?" Piccolo asked, not too thrown off by his choices.

"Roshi is wise, he has been on this planet even longer than I. He is the younger brother of the fortuneteller Baba and has trained under Korin and Mutaito, the one who had originally managed to seal away your father. He is not exactly mature, though, as I'm sure you know. I do not believe Muten Roshi has the full responsibility to take the position," Kami explained, "Tenshinhan is a strong warrior, and is very responsible and disciplined, but the main reason I say is because he is a descendent of the ancient Three-Eyed clan. The Three-Eyed clan is able to perform extraordinary and godlike abilities through their third eye's 'true sight'. Tenshinhan was trained by Shen, who was quite despicable. This corruption caused him to lose the ability of true sight, without that I believe he has more use as a member of the Earth's fighting forces,"

"I understand Roshi, but do you think you know enough to teach Tien how to use true sight once again?" Piccolo asked.

"I might, but it is too much of a bargain to be sure, and it would take time that we do not have," Kami explained.

"What about the time chamber?" Piccolo asked.

"I do not believe it should be used for this. Besides, neither Tenshinhan or Roshi can learn the secrets of the dragon balls,. That would have to be a namekian," Kami and Piccolo both took a second to think.

"I can have Goku locate New Namek, I think I know someone suitable," Piccolo said. Kami nodded at him.

"I trust your judgement," Kami informed him.

"First though, can multiple people maintain the status of guardian?" Piccolo asked. Kami widened his eyes in shock, it was an interesting question.

"Well I suppose so, but why? Do you have something in mind?" Kami asked.

"The person I have in mind is an astounding healer and a skilled member of Namek's Dragon Clan, but he is lacking three things. Wisdom, knowledge of Earth, and fighting power." Kami nodded, catching Piccolo's drift.

"Do you believe Tenshinhan and Roshi would agree to that?" Kami asked.

"I believe so," Piccolo answered. Kami sighed.

"Since I suppose you won't compromise to anything that includes us not fusing and me staying guardian, this will have to do," Kami said, finally agreeing with Piccolo. "Mister Popo, please come here," Kami instructed the genie. Mister Popo, who had been tending to his garden while listening in, walked towards them.

"Kami, are you sure about this?" Popo asked timidly. He hated to see Kami go, the one who had been a friend to him so long. He had seen many a guardian come and go in his time, but Kami had been the closest to him, and the most benevolent. Kami smiled sadly down at his attendant.

"Yes. I am sorry, old friend. It seems my time is coming to an end," He placed his hand on Mister Popo's head, and there was a brief flash of light.

"What did you do?" Piccolo asked.

"Since we are using your body as the base, my memories will disappear. I believe my knowledge will be highly useful to you, so I am transferring it to Mister Popo who will transfer it back to you once we are finished," Kami explained.

"Once we fuse, I will find our three guardians and inform them of the situation," Piccolo told Kami, "Then I will hunt down this _thing_ that has appeared," Piccolo confirmed.

"Then let it commence. Piccolo, please place your hand on my chest," Kami instructed. Piccolo complied and placed his hand right in the center of the circle that held Kami's symbol, reading 'god'.

"Kami, no..." Popo whispered, tears forming in his eyes. Kami smiled over at his friend.

"Goodbye, Popo," Were his last words. Kami released a cacophony of uncomfortable grunts and screams as a white aura flared around him. The aura continued to grow brighter and cover a larger expanse of the area until no one could quite see what was happening. The light faded, leaving smoke billowing from a single form. It was Piccolo's body, but Popo knew it wasn't quite Piccolo anymore.

"G-Goodbye...Kami," Popo said softly, tears now streaming down his face. The namekian nodded at him respectfully, and walked towards him. Piccolo and Kami's fusion kneeled once more, before Popo. The genie held his hand against the green skinned alien's head and there was a bright flash of light. The namekian's eyes widened as the information poured into his head.

"Thank you," He said. His voice was like Piccolo's but smoother, more confident. When he stood, he stood proudly, the wind causing his cape to flow behind him. He stood at the edge of the lookout, viewing the world that a fraction of himself had once guarded. "I...I am no longer Kami, nor Piccolo. I am the Namek who has long since forgotten has name," The so called 'Nameless Namek' proclaimed to the sky. He turned towards Mister Popo and gave him a small smile, "I must go," He stated confidently, right before he turned back around and dived off of the lookout.

* * *

"What do you _mean_ you haven't seen mom since you were nine?" Young Gohan shouted at his future counterpart. The one-armed man sighed sadly and scratched his head.

"When everyone... everyone died I just couldn't face her. I couldn't stand to imagine her face when I told her that they were all gone, and I was the only one left, and that I just," Gohan paused and sniffled, "I couldn't save anyone. I told myself that when I defeated the androids that I just might be able be able to look her in the eyes," Gohan said quietly. His younger counterpart couldn't believe what was hearing, he couldn't figure out what to say. Now that his Super Saiyan transformation had released the floodgate that held his rage in a small corner in his mind so long, his personality had changed a bit. He was still mannerly and polite as always, but he knew just a bit now that his rage didn't need to just be a powerup during battle. So, for just a second, his anger told him what to do. Gohan stared his future self in the eye, reared his fist back, and slammed it into his gut. The older Gohan's eyes shot open, and he stumbled back clutching his stomach. "I-I Suppose I deserved that," The scarred man gasped.

"Are you stupid?!" Gohan yelled at himself, definitely having broken through his mannerly self, "Did you think your mom would just abandon you because you weren't strong enough to save everyone? Your mom loves you unconditionally, no matter what happens! How could you just leave her like that, with evil androids ravaging the Earth? Do you even know if she's alive?!" The nine year old screamed.

"Of course I do, I check her energy every single day," Gohan stuttered, shocked by the child's outburst.

"But how is she? What do you think it does to someone when everyone they know dies and they have no idea where their son has gone? I can't tell you how to live your life, you're an adult, but I can tell you that for such a supposedly smart person," Gohan paused and looked into the man's eyes, "You're kind of stupid," Gohan huffed, and stomped inside. Future Gohan sat down in the grass, a lost look on his face. Icarus chirped in his ear and laid down on the grass beside him, looking quite happy as Future Gohan rubbed his head.

"Well, I never thought I'd have to go back in time and get told off by myself to realize something so obvious," The time-traveler said as he flopped on to his back.

* * *

There was a 'swish' and suddenly Goku and Bulma were standing in Goku's house once again. Bulma quickly found her sons, one was being held by Yamcha, and the one she technically hadn't given birth to was talking with Tien.

"Trunks, Yamcha I need you two to come with me," Bulma informed them. She gently lifted baby Trunks from Yamcha's arms, "Hi sweetie! I'm sorry but mommy is busy helping save the world!" The baby giggled happily and clapped his hands, "Mommy is going to have to be busy a bit longer too. I bet you're hungry though!" Bulma set baby Trunks down in Tien's arms and handed the three-eyed man a bottle filled with formula, "Sorry Tien, this can't wait," Bulma explained as she bustled off, leaving Tien wondering when he'd become a babysitter.

"Grab on guys," Goku said, Trunks, Yamcha, and Bulma laying their hands down on Goku's person. There was a 'swish' and they were gone again. They reappeared in the middle of the forest, in front of a golden, moss covered machine.

"What are we doing here, mother?" Trunks asked, having trouble with the last word.

"I did manage to find the android's frequency, but when I was rewiring the dragon ball radar I noticed a fourth signal that was well, sort of all over the place. I managed to track it to here." Bulma explained.

"But what am I doing here?" Yamcha asked. Bulma shrugged.

"In case it was some sort of emergency I wanted to have a few fighters around, and you're a good friend," Bulma told him causing Yamcha to smile, "I mean I know Tien is stronger than you," Yamcha's smile turned into a frown, "And that he's a trustworthy person but he's so solemn and his third eye kind of creeps me out." The scientist finished. Yamcha rolled his eyes. Yamcha, Trunks, and Bulma walked towards the machine as Goku stood off to the side wondering when he'd become a mode of transportation. Trunks recognized the machine and the color that shined beneath the moss. He rubbed some of the moss off of the machine to reveal the word ' _ **HOPE**_ ' written on it in marker.

"This... This is our time machine," Trunks whispered.

* * *

 **Hello! [Insert apologies about posting so damn late again here] Sorry I don't have much to say in this afternote but damn am I tired bros. Have a nice whatever you're doing and don't text and drive. See you lates magates readers. Also ignore that I just typed 'lates magates' what the hell.**

 **BUT FIRST, yeah don't worry TaitanoRules555, Cell'll be showing his ugly...face? Soon enough.**

 **Now lates maga- wait fuck no.**


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